Around the 25th Earth year of my time as Drew Fisher, while traveling around Europe, a copy of novelist Nikos Kazantzakis' The Last Temptation of Christ leapt off of a shelf in a used book store where it secured itself into the hands of the vehicle of my eagerly awaiting mind. I remember holing up in the local Youth Hostel for three or four days as I devoured the novel. It was mesmerizing. Even in translation (the original, first published in 1953, was written in Kazantzakis' native Greek), I felt totally drawn in, totally immersed in Jesus' world, in his mind, and, more importantly, into the sacred relationship between he and his most beloved disciple, Judas.
Through his Judas and Jesus characters, Kazantzakis was able to convey his very personal interpretation of what he felt was the most misunderstood and misrepresented relationship in the history of his beloved Christian faith. In his theorization, Judas was not a traitor, he was more likely the most self-less, loving hero of Jesus' life. He was Jesus' devil's advocate, his test dummy, his butt-kicker, his no-bullshit, no-holds-barred, most honest, bestest BFF. Though our culture's collective unconscious has always shaded Judas in a shadow of evil and betrayal, Kazantzakis reminds us that Judas was, after all, one of Jesus' most trusted, most intimate followers! He was an Apostle! One of the Twelve! He may, in fact, have been the most trusted and beloved of all of the Apostles! To vilify him as history has done is to judge too quickly, to forget that we are all human, to forget that bigger, more powerful forces--forces that never knew either the real historical Judas (much less the real historical Jesus)--were motivated to color Judas as they have for reasons that we can only surmise, that we may never truly understand. But Kazantzakis chose a different perspective; he chose to have us imagine thinking that Judas' act of betrayal was done out of Love! That he was pressured by Jesus himself to perform this act. That Jesus needed someone to perform this act because it was an act that Jesus believed to be essential to the outcome of his plans--and that he chose Judas--chose Judas specifically for the reason that he knew that Judas was his strongest, most trusted, most loving, must understanding, least self-motivated, least self-conscious, least Ego-driven friend and follower.
We all think of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb, as the greatest force of Love that we've ever had in human form. In The Last Temptation, Kazantzakis is asking us to consider that perhaps Judas was one, too! After all, it was Judas' sacrifice that made Jesus' ultimate sacrifice possible! Imagine the kind of Love necessary to be that sacrificial lamb--to know that history would forever vilify you, that your name might become companion to that of Lucifer, Brutus, Marc Antony, and Hitler.
Kazantakis' refreshing view of Judas and his possible/likely relationship with Jesus was so startling to me, so contrary to all that I had been taught (and had imagined), that it caused a bursting of historical memes in me that set me into the process of questioning the "standard, accepted" version of any and every historical figure or event I came across. I was born quite a passive learner, content to observe and allow the conditioning of my family, culture, and social milieu shape my mind. I was very much a product of my conditioning. After reading The Last Temptation things changed. It seemed as if my exposure to Kazantzakis' "radical" ideas helped open the floodgates for the ensuing stream of "revisionist" or "alternative" historical books which continued to cross my path from that time on. Throughout my adult lifetime I've been privileged to have been exposed to "alternative" theories on a vast array of historical events, social-political themes--the political motives of The Roman Catholic Church, the European invasion and conquest of the Americas, the arrogance and presumptuousness of British Imperialism, the peaceful ideals and intentions of communism, socialism and anarchism, the social psychology and political-economic motivations behind the push for compulsory schooling for the masses, the illusions of U.S. freedoms and "democracy," the hidden evils of taxation, nationalism, corporate personhood, global finance, first world bias and the "evolutionary progress" of "civilization," etc., etc. The efforts of greedy, power-hungry, vindictive and fear-motivated people to conspire for their own successes has certainly played a significant role throughout the history of Homo sapiens sapiens--which has most certainly given rise to today's vast number and widely popular "conspiracy theories" and theorists (which, curiously, seems to have coincided with the sudden discouragement and diminishment of investigative journalism).
The effect the reading of The Last Temptation of Christ had on me was that I was able to experience a powerful display of the fact that there are myriad perspectives for any and every situation or event in life, that nothing is rarely what it seems, that there are alternative perspectives for the understanding, vilification, forgiveness, and love of all things. This was probably my first introduction to the concept that there is no good or evil, no right or wrong, no better or worse, there is only perspective and choice--though it would be a few years before the message and meaning of these words word first reach my consciousness.
Another teacher who helped me with the concept of expanding perspectives or using alternative perspectives--a teacher who's influence on me actually predates that of Nikos Kazantzakis by a few years--was Justin Moreward Haig, the semi-fictional, semi-biographical protagonist of Cyrill Scott's 1920 publication, The Initiate. Justin Moreward Haig--whom I shall heretofore refer to as "JMH" or "Master JMH"--was fond of repeating the phrase, "A certain point of view [or "perspective" he would also use] can be a prophylactic against all disease and to acquire the right point of view is the object of all mature thinking." This statement and all of the examples of this principle in action as lovingly recorded by Master JMH's dear friend and devote, Cyril Scott caused such a stir in my soul--a "divine disconnect" I would now call it, an awakening of my own natural curiosity--which then quite possibly led to a return to awareness of my own innate Divinity, to the growth that has, ultimately, led me to this point in my life.
Curiously, this was a book that my devoutly Roman Catholic mother had enthusiastically passed on to my brothers and I somewhere in the late 1970s after she had read it. What is, to me, unusual about this scenario, is that all five of us took inspiration from this book in vastly different ways--though in ways that did prove expansive to each of our perceptions of the world. The Initiate has been a source of reference and conversation among the five of us many times in the years since its first appearance in our lives. Several of us have read it multiple times at various times over the course of our lives.
To me The Initiate and Justin Moreward Haig represent my first exposure to spiritual human potential outside of a religious context. I had been attracted to the examples of human potential that came from the cast and characters of my parents' Roman Catholic faith--especially that of Jesus of Nazareth. But I had never before recognized a Christ-like character with spiritual acumen and spiritual power outside of a religious sect. In JMH I saw a person, albeit an extraordinary person, yet he was someone in whom I was able to identify a part of myself, a potentiality of my own; he was a person in whom I was able to recognize that regular--though perhaps more 'evolved'--humans were able to do "good" things and walk in a Christ-like way without an association or affiliation to an organized religion. You might say that Justin Moreward Haig, fictional character or not, was my first realization that messianic characters could exist in the real world--that Christ wasn't the first or only person to have mastered four-dimensional Earth-based Law through bringing spiritual Wisdom into a human bodymind.
The messianic potential of human beings has been important to me for in that through it I have been able to recognize my own true potential--which has then served to urge me on in my work toward ever-expanding Self-awareness, Self-actualization and Self-realization. Though Cyril Scott's recounting of Master JMH's oft-repeated axiom regarding perspective as prophylactic against sorrow, I eventually recognized that sorrow was a tool that one could choose for experience, for the creation of information that one could use for self-awareness and self-realization. I had learned to value the choice of joy, love, and over sorrow and suffering as the tools for my growth and unfolding but I have learned to understand that Master JMH often spoke and behaved in manners that were best understood by those with whom he interacted. Thus, the search for "the right point of view" has been understood as meaning "the point of view that best serves the highest expression of your highest vision for the greatest potential you can imagine for your Self." I have come to the current understanding that the perspective of Jesus, Justin Moreward Haig, Judas or even Journeyman Paul is holographic, that is, it is a perspective of infinite points of view, of infinite hats and cloaks, of infinite choice. Infinite possibilities.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Sunday, April 19, 2015
The Teachers: Jamie Champion
The second section of this, the second year of The Many Lives of Journeyman Paul, is intended to expound upon some of the key 'teachers' that I've been privileged to have attracted into my life--people, real and fictional, who have made a difference in my life as Drew Fisher. As I intend to help you understand, I consider a 'teacher' to be any one, any thing, any event, any character from a book or movie that has helped an individual discover and redefine himself. Thus, I'm going to open this section of my blog with a childhood neighborhood playmate who proceeded to appear intermittently in my life over the course of 40 years, James Reed Champion. The First.
Jamie and I met while in grade school. We walked the same route to and from school. That's how we met. We were neighbors, we were the same age, and we attended the same elementary school though we were in different classrooms. Jamie was the youngest child of a family in which several of his brothers and sisters were beyond high school--some even beyond college. (His eldest brother, Rick, was a professional tennis teacher in Scottsdale, Arizona where he founded "yoga tennis" in the early 1970s. Rick was in his thirties when I was a pre-teen.) I think Jamie benefitted from both the hippie wisdom and experimental experiences of his older siblings as well as from the hands-off laissez-faire parenting style of his mother, Kay. Kay Champion was a full-time working mother who had lost her husband, Jamie's father, when Jamie was four years old.
Jamie was a wild, highly extroverted, and uninhibited child. He was not, however, a "trouble maker" or a bad kid. He knew how to pursue his joy without disturbing others. (As a kindergartener he "terrorized" all the girls--much to their delight--by chasing them around the playground trying to kiss them.) I benefitted tremendously from Jamie's example. Though I was quite strong in my own core disposition--and always have been--Jamie was the first human to help me see how open and extroverted we humans could be--that is, how fearless we can be. Looking back, I can see that I needed this influence in my life in order to break free from my conservative, fear-filled, eldest son psychosis. I was a qunitessential "wall flower," quite content to watch--and quite astute observer I was--but I was also quite afraid to act, to attract attention. I quite preferred to feel invisible.
Jamie was the opposite. He was truly fearless and expressed his fearlessness openly and confidently. Though I never experimented with the extremes that Jamie demonstrated and offered (though he never pressured me)--such as sexual and drug and alcohol experimentation--I also never felt drawn to the spell of theater and public speaking. It was when he began participating in community and school theater that our paths truly diverged. Instead, I became attracted to the use of athletics for the development and expression of my joy in being in a human bodymind. Jamie was a competent student, a good athlete, and a well-behaved kid in school. But out in the world he was BIG. He could take over a party or a stage. He was fearless.
In the second round of our relationship we reconnected during college. Jamie was the first person to expose me to principles of human biomagnetic energy. He also was the first person to help me realize that there was a science behind natural food choices. I was such an eager student of his information on Polarity Therapy and raw and natural food. It was as if I had been starving for all of my life for this information! Jamie opened the door for me to begin gathering tools and information with which to empower my self-care; he made me aware that there were alternatives to those choices to which I had been accustomed--to my life's conditioning. And, boy, was I ready for it! I soaked up the lessons of our brief interaction in our 21st years. Many of the techniques and principles Jamie taught me I still use today and have passed on to others enthusiastically.
The third round of our relationship was prompted by a group meditation in which the meditation leader asked us, while in altered consciousness state of meditation, to call forth our "Teacher"--that one individual who has been or is our "teacher." I had no clue who this could or would be. I had never even considered the question before. But, lo! and behold! Who did my Mind conjure up but Jamie Champion--dressed in Sikh turban as his Yoga Tennis brother used to wear. Once I got beyond the shock of the apparition of Jamie Champion as my 'spiritual teacher' it all became perfectly clear. It made so much sense that Jamie was My Teacher. I could see that it was his example, his innate wisdom as well as his esoteric learning that had so profoundly affected me--that had literally shattered "the box" of my robotic conditioning, opened the door to all information. The effect of his presence in my life had literally opened my being up to the infinite possibilities of growth and transformation. Jamie Champion had provided me with the mirror of what was possible--and the knowledge that those possibilities were okay--maybe even healthier that the beliefs and values I had unconsciously accepted due to my upbringing.
Jamie has since gone on to quite a prominent and successful career in the field of alternative health care--specifically in the energetic and dietary healing arts. While our current relationship is virtually nonexistent, his messages, the lessons he made available to me, remain as vivid, vibrant and active to me today--in almost every waking day--as they did all those years ago--maybe moreso now (since I am much better able to understand them today).
This fact is illustrative of two other principles that the Jamie figure helped me to realize. One is that teachers are never meant to be singular or life-long. One can, of course, use a teacher and his/her wisdom, knowledge, information, and inspiration over the course of one's entire lifetime, but it is not necessary. The only true teacher we need is our Selves. In fact, the discovery of this fact is sign of a critical stage of spiritual development: the realization that all you need to know resides within you; that the illusory "others" "outside" you have been co-created and attracted into your consciousness as means to bring information as reminders of your own power, your own self-sufficiency, of your own Wisdom.
The other principle that Jamie's presence in my life helped me to realize is that a teacher can have a tremendous impact even if only in the course of a single encounter--like the sharing of a single look or a single sentence--and that, therefore, they can still earn the title "teacher" despite the student never being a devotee or active seeker of wisdom from that person. I never thought of Jamie as a "teacher" while he was in my life. It was only years later, in retrospect, that I realized that he had been my teacher.
As one "climbs the ladder" of spiritual development one does come to a stage in which the major lessons include: a) one teacher, one faith, one belief system, one construct is not necessarily the container or deliverer of all Truth and Wisdom; b) everyone and everything is (potentially) a teacher; c) all you need to know, all you need for Self-realization, all you require for Eternal Wholeness and Eternal Life is within You, and; d) every thing, everyone, every thought, every action is not only a teacher but also a true reflection of that which your Soul/Higher Self is looking for at this moment for its next stimulus for growth, expansion, increased Self-awareness, augmented Self-concept, and Self-realization. I believe that I asked for Jamie Champion to appear in my world in order that I might have a reminder of my own inner strength, courage, and intuition--as a reminder of The Voice Within. Thank you, Jamie.
Jamie and I met while in grade school. We walked the same route to and from school. That's how we met. We were neighbors, we were the same age, and we attended the same elementary school though we were in different classrooms. Jamie was the youngest child of a family in which several of his brothers and sisters were beyond high school--some even beyond college. (His eldest brother, Rick, was a professional tennis teacher in Scottsdale, Arizona where he founded "yoga tennis" in the early 1970s. Rick was in his thirties when I was a pre-teen.) I think Jamie benefitted from both the hippie wisdom and experimental experiences of his older siblings as well as from the hands-off laissez-faire parenting style of his mother, Kay. Kay Champion was a full-time working mother who had lost her husband, Jamie's father, when Jamie was four years old.
Jamie was a wild, highly extroverted, and uninhibited child. He was not, however, a "trouble maker" or a bad kid. He knew how to pursue his joy without disturbing others. (As a kindergartener he "terrorized" all the girls--much to their delight--by chasing them around the playground trying to kiss them.) I benefitted tremendously from Jamie's example. Though I was quite strong in my own core disposition--and always have been--Jamie was the first human to help me see how open and extroverted we humans could be--that is, how fearless we can be. Looking back, I can see that I needed this influence in my life in order to break free from my conservative, fear-filled, eldest son psychosis. I was a qunitessential "wall flower," quite content to watch--and quite astute observer I was--but I was also quite afraid to act, to attract attention. I quite preferred to feel invisible.
Jamie was the opposite. He was truly fearless and expressed his fearlessness openly and confidently. Though I never experimented with the extremes that Jamie demonstrated and offered (though he never pressured me)--such as sexual and drug and alcohol experimentation--I also never felt drawn to the spell of theater and public speaking. It was when he began participating in community and school theater that our paths truly diverged. Instead, I became attracted to the use of athletics for the development and expression of my joy in being in a human bodymind. Jamie was a competent student, a good athlete, and a well-behaved kid in school. But out in the world he was BIG. He could take over a party or a stage. He was fearless.
In the second round of our relationship we reconnected during college. Jamie was the first person to expose me to principles of human biomagnetic energy. He also was the first person to help me realize that there was a science behind natural food choices. I was such an eager student of his information on Polarity Therapy and raw and natural food. It was as if I had been starving for all of my life for this information! Jamie opened the door for me to begin gathering tools and information with which to empower my self-care; he made me aware that there were alternatives to those choices to which I had been accustomed--to my life's conditioning. And, boy, was I ready for it! I soaked up the lessons of our brief interaction in our 21st years. Many of the techniques and principles Jamie taught me I still use today and have passed on to others enthusiastically.
The third round of our relationship was prompted by a group meditation in which the meditation leader asked us, while in altered consciousness state of meditation, to call forth our "Teacher"--that one individual who has been or is our "teacher." I had no clue who this could or would be. I had never even considered the question before. But, lo! and behold! Who did my Mind conjure up but Jamie Champion--dressed in Sikh turban as his Yoga Tennis brother used to wear. Once I got beyond the shock of the apparition of Jamie Champion as my 'spiritual teacher' it all became perfectly clear. It made so much sense that Jamie was My Teacher. I could see that it was his example, his innate wisdom as well as his esoteric learning that had so profoundly affected me--that had literally shattered "the box" of my robotic conditioning, opened the door to all information. The effect of his presence in my life had literally opened my being up to the infinite possibilities of growth and transformation. Jamie Champion had provided me with the mirror of what was possible--and the knowledge that those possibilities were okay--maybe even healthier that the beliefs and values I had unconsciously accepted due to my upbringing.
Jamie has since gone on to quite a prominent and successful career in the field of alternative health care--specifically in the energetic and dietary healing arts. While our current relationship is virtually nonexistent, his messages, the lessons he made available to me, remain as vivid, vibrant and active to me today--in almost every waking day--as they did all those years ago--maybe moreso now (since I am much better able to understand them today).
This fact is illustrative of two other principles that the Jamie figure helped me to realize. One is that teachers are never meant to be singular or life-long. One can, of course, use a teacher and his/her wisdom, knowledge, information, and inspiration over the course of one's entire lifetime, but it is not necessary. The only true teacher we need is our Selves. In fact, the discovery of this fact is sign of a critical stage of spiritual development: the realization that all you need to know resides within you; that the illusory "others" "outside" you have been co-created and attracted into your consciousness as means to bring information as reminders of your own power, your own self-sufficiency, of your own Wisdom.
The other principle that Jamie's presence in my life helped me to realize is that a teacher can have a tremendous impact even if only in the course of a single encounter--like the sharing of a single look or a single sentence--and that, therefore, they can still earn the title "teacher" despite the student never being a devotee or active seeker of wisdom from that person. I never thought of Jamie as a "teacher" while he was in my life. It was only years later, in retrospect, that I realized that he had been my teacher.
As one "climbs the ladder" of spiritual development one does come to a stage in which the major lessons include: a) one teacher, one faith, one belief system, one construct is not necessarily the container or deliverer of all Truth and Wisdom; b) everyone and everything is (potentially) a teacher; c) all you need to know, all you need for Self-realization, all you require for Eternal Wholeness and Eternal Life is within You, and; d) every thing, everyone, every thought, every action is not only a teacher but also a true reflection of that which your Soul/Higher Self is looking for at this moment for its next stimulus for growth, expansion, increased Self-awareness, augmented Self-concept, and Self-realization. I believe that I asked for Jamie Champion to appear in my world in order that I might have a reminder of my own inner strength, courage, and intuition--as a reminder of The Voice Within. Thank you, Jamie.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
"Drew Fisher"
Vocation as A Reflector of Soul Speak
I have discovered that my soul--that is, the Plan that Paul and his Team of spiritual peers, teachers, and counselors came up with for this trip to planet Earth in Drew Fisher form--my soul has a language that enables me, Drew Fisher, to see and accept messages from it with regards to what I could be doing to help expand my current awareness and understanding of Life, Love, Beauty, Joy, and Truth. This language is the language of information, the infinite sensory stimuli bombarding my consciousness at every moment of every day of every lifetime. That’s right, everything I see, everything I feel, everything I think, everything I do, everything I say, everything I hear, everything I read, everything I dream, everything I imagine—it’s all information being given to me, information that I am attracting into my world, so that I can process, take in, ponder, assimilate and accommodate (or not), and, hopefully, make sense of because IT IS ALL PRESENTED AS A MEANS TO MY OWN EVER-EXPANDING VISIONS OF MY SELF, MY WORLD AND MY PLACE and ROLE IN THAT WORLD.
Here “ever-expanding” means “ever-changing,” and “ever-growing” for with all of this information we are constantly being bombarded with (which we are also co-creating as we are always attracting exactly the kind of information that we need for growth at each and every moment). We have the choice of which pieces to pay attention to and which to ignore, which to give power to and which to derive power from, which will push us out of our current comfort zone (so that we can grow) and which we will pull into our field because it reinforces a comfortable place that we currently find ourselves. The problem here is it is never very safe to get too comfortable in a certain place for too long because that is the opposite of life: Life is flow! You can get comfortable clinging to that rock in the river, but all of the really big excitement and adventures and learning and true growth happen out in the stream, out in the flow of the river, out in the flow of life. It can be risky and dangerous—especially if you aren’t paying attention and aren’t working on your swimming techniques—but it can also be so rewarding!
Here “ever-expanding” means “ever-changing,” and “ever-growing” for with all of this information we are constantly being bombarded with (which we are also co-creating as we are always attracting exactly the kind of information that we need for growth at each and every moment). We have the choice of which pieces to pay attention to and which to ignore, which to give power to and which to derive power from, which will push us out of our current comfort zone (so that we can grow) and which we will pull into our field because it reinforces a comfortable place that we currently find ourselves. The problem here is it is never very safe to get too comfortable in a certain place for too long because that is the opposite of life: Life is flow! You can get comfortable clinging to that rock in the river, but all of the really big excitement and adventures and learning and true growth happen out in the stream, out in the flow of the river, out in the flow of life. It can be risky and dangerous—especially if you aren’t paying attention and aren’t working on your swimming techniques—but it can also be so rewarding!
In my life as Drew Fisher, Journeyman Paul has attracted me to entertain or actually engage in certain career choices. Each and every one of these vocations allowed me to explore a creative side of my being while also helping me to be aware of the distortions or corruptions to Self that can come with each career if and when the Ego/Personality is allowed to drive without allowing spiritual perspective to open and flow. Here are those vocations that I have used for self-knowledge. I have tried to describe what attracted me to the activity, how it served me, and why I eventually "outgrew," rejected, or moved past it.
Architect – With the architect mindset I engage my will, wisdom and knowledge in the creation of my home, my work place, my world, my world view. Being an architect involves developing the ability to recreate ones relationships--to everything--over and over and over. It is an exhilarating activity to create a living environment. Especially with all of the variables of human function that one might prioritize and desire in a living/working space.
The flaw I found in architecture is in the way it can be misused. When the architect remains ego-driven--when he forgets that his service is to provide a structure that is reflective of the ideas and feelings of others—of those who commissioned his services--then the architect has failed and the architecture becomes immersed in the illusory nature of physical and emotional constructs. The architect's design should be a reflective projection of both his Self and the perceived needs and desires of the others who have commissioned his or her work.
A wonderful book title (and a beautiful, wonderful book, as well) that fell into my life about 20 years ago is House as Mirror of Self. A Jungian concept, it is, to my mind, a brilliant reminder. The house is a mirror of the self! How you decorate, move through, treat, clean (or not), which rooms you frequent (and why) all serve as metaphors for the way you 'decorate,' move through, treat, clean (or not) your Self! The rooms you ignore reflect inner parts of your Self that you choose to ignore. The rooms you fear are reflective of parts of your self that you are afraid to look into, afraid to face, afraid to deal with. The rooms you frequent and find joy in are reflective of the parts of you that you find joy and comfort in. Think about it sometime and you'll find so much you can learn from the way you treat and use your home.
I have learned to extrapolate the concept of the house as mirror of the Self by replacing the first noun ("house") with any and every other noun of choice. The point is, everything is a mirror of Self; everything has been co-created by, attracted to, and noticed by you because it offers valuable information--information that can be helpful to your ever-expanding awareness, understanding, and use of Self. Thus, we are all architects.
The flaw I found in architecture is in the way it can be misused. When the architect remains ego-driven--when he forgets that his service is to provide a structure that is reflective of the ideas and feelings of others—of those who commissioned his services--then the architect has failed and the architecture becomes immersed in the illusory nature of physical and emotional constructs. The architect's design should be a reflective projection of both his Self and the perceived needs and desires of the others who have commissioned his or her work.
A wonderful book title (and a beautiful, wonderful book, as well) that fell into my life about 20 years ago is House as Mirror of Self. A Jungian concept, it is, to my mind, a brilliant reminder. The house is a mirror of the self! How you decorate, move through, treat, clean (or not), which rooms you frequent (and why) all serve as metaphors for the way you 'decorate,' move through, treat, clean (or not) your Self! The rooms you ignore reflect inner parts of your Self that you choose to ignore. The rooms you fear are reflective of parts of your self that you are afraid to look into, afraid to face, afraid to deal with. The rooms you frequent and find joy in are reflective of the parts of you that you find joy and comfort in. Think about it sometime and you'll find so much you can learn from the way you treat and use your home.
I have learned to extrapolate the concept of the house as mirror of the Self by replacing the first noun ("house") with any and every other noun of choice. The point is, everything is a mirror of Self; everything has been co-created by, attracted to, and noticed by you because it offers valuable information--information that can be helpful to your ever-expanding awareness, understanding, and use of Self. Thus, we are all architects.
Athlete – Athletics endeavor to fine tuning the body and mind. The psycho-spiritual benefits of moving the body (and mind) can be exhilarating. (Movement is Life!) The drive and will-power necessary to achieve competitive success in a particular endeavor is always admirable and awesome. But the can be taken to an extreme which creates imbalance and disharmony--builds compartments of the Ego/Personality that may not serve the soul/Spirit as well as planned. Addictive patterns are all too easy to fall into within the higher echelons of athletics. We live in a time in which athletic prowess offers many, many Ego temptations. The athlete who achieves spiritual success--self-actualization and Self-realization--is rare. Yes, it is quite an accomplishment to display the extraordinary abilities of these human bodyminds, but to what end? For the entertainment of others? But we must ask ourselves, why do these people seek entertainment? And the answer is that they are seeking escape. They are creating distraction after distraction so that they can avoid having to do their own inner work.
Because of the perspective that my work in the healing arts gives me, I now see that each and every human being is an athlete of some kind: We all use our bodies and minds to perform tasks that require strength, coordination and stamina in the course of every day of our lives. The professional or competitive athlete, however, chooses to focus on conditioning that body and mind to an unusually high degree. The problem that comes with competitive and repetitive athletes is that they are more susceptible to over-use and abuse syndromes—both physically and psycho-spiritually. These can lead to injuries or stuck patterns that can later impede, limit or even disable the bodymind from optimum performance capability, but which can also lead to diseases that affect the health (by “health” I mean “open flow of Joy, Love, Truth, and Beauty”) of that individual and many people around that individual—all of which can be a good thing for the potential lessons and growth of that individual as well as all of the people around or affected by that individual.
We are all marvels of physical capacity; we are all Athletes.
Because of the perspective that my work in the healing arts gives me, I now see that each and every human being is an athlete of some kind: We all use our bodies and minds to perform tasks that require strength, coordination and stamina in the course of every day of our lives. The professional or competitive athlete, however, chooses to focus on conditioning that body and mind to an unusually high degree. The problem that comes with competitive and repetitive athletes is that they are more susceptible to over-use and abuse syndromes—both physically and psycho-spiritually. These can lead to injuries or stuck patterns that can later impede, limit or even disable the bodymind from optimum performance capability, but which can also lead to diseases that affect the health (by “health” I mean “open flow of Joy, Love, Truth, and Beauty”) of that individual and many people around that individual—all of which can be a good thing for the potential lessons and growth of that individual as well as all of the people around or affected by that individual.
We are all marvels of physical capacity; we are all Athletes.
Lover – Every single person on the planet is worthy or deserving of my love and attention. When I was young, my mother “accused” me of always falling in love because I was in love with being in love! It’s true: I fall in love with virtually every person I get to meet and interact with. Now please be sure here to dissociate love with one of its forms of expression, sex. When I say I fall in love with everyone I meet, it does not mean that I want to have sex with them. "Making love" with a person is a wonderful expression of one's love, but it is not the only or the end all be all. It is not even the highest expression of love. In "falling in love" with virtually every person I get to meet and interact with, I have come to recognize the joy and elation I feel with the recurring awareness that 1) they're just like me! 2)we all have the same flaws and potentialities, 3) we are all equally worthy and deserving of love, 4) we are all the same--that is, we are all made up of the same stuff, physically, emotionally, mentally, psychologically, spiritually. That commonality is recognized by that Voice within me. The Divinity in you is recognized, cherished, celebrated, loved by the Divinity in me.
I have been fortunate to have had many teachers help me to discover the forms and layers of Love, the uses and misuses that humans fall into with regards to love, as well as the Self-improving and Self-limiting ways that love can be used. Love is all there is but "love" can be misinterpreted and manipulated when the artificial, illusory constructs, patterns and habits of the Ego/Personality are dominant.
We are all capable of seeing and celebrating the Divinity in each other. We are all Lovers.
I have been fortunate to have had many teachers help me to discover the forms and layers of Love, the uses and misuses that humans fall into with regards to love, as well as the Self-improving and Self-limiting ways that love can be used. Love is all there is but "love" can be misinterpreted and manipulated when the artificial, illusory constructs, patterns and habits of the Ego/Personality are dominant.
We are all capable of seeing and celebrating the Divinity in each other. We are all Lovers.
Doctor— At one point I thought I wanted to be come doctor—I thought I wanted to be a part of the effort to try to find a cure for cancer. How arrogant it is for one to believe that one person can or should derive a thing to try to cleanse away another person’s very personal and self-attracted and self-serving soul inhibitions! Cancer—like any disease—like all diseases—serves a purpose! It is a tremendous teacher of humility to the Ego/Personality and can be a tremendous agent for the breakdown and destruction of huge damns that have been constructed by the fear-filled, emotion-hoarding Ego/Personality. As the false and illusory constructs of the Ego/Personality are destroyed the flow of spirit is allowed to come shining through, then can we know true vibrancy and true health!
Our current "civilization's" medical and "health care" systems are not addressing either health or care but disease and Ego-driven treatment procedures and protocols. Any system would address the whole the person, the diet, the emotional and psychological factors, as well as the psycho-spiritual level of development of the individual.
I did not and do not choose mainstream modern medicine or modern "health care" for my the care of my physical, emotional, or mental well-being because it is void of recognition of the Soul and the Spirit. The "system" I have chosen addresses all health and dis-ease from a spiritual perspective. As Alice Bailey channeled from Master Dwal Khul, All dis-ease is the result of inhibited soul life. Thus, it is from a spiritual perspective, looking at the state and flow of the soul, that all dis-ease should be approached.
Along the way, I have learned that we are all sources of comfort, support and empathy on the journey toward healing and Self-actualization; We are all Doctors . . . of our Souls.
I did not and do not choose mainstream modern medicine or modern "health care" for my the care of my physical, emotional, or mental well-being because it is void of recognition of the Soul and the Spirit. The "system" I have chosen addresses all health and dis-ease from a spiritual perspective. As Alice Bailey channeled from Master Dwal Khul, All dis-ease is the result of inhibited soul life. Thus, it is from a spiritual perspective, looking at the state and flow of the soul, that all dis-ease should be approached.
Along the way, I have learned that we are all sources of comfort, support and empathy on the journey toward healing and Self-actualization; We are all Doctors . . . of our Souls.
Priest – At one point I came to believe that my gifts and talents would best serve the world if I were to become a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. Among the most sacred and powerful "peak" moments of my young life had been those few minutes after taking the Eucharist. I would feel so light and so full of love and ecstasy that I would forget I was human, forget that I had a body, that there were things like space and time. For those few moments that I was "filled" with Jesus, I felt as if I was pure Light and Love. Thus, the attraction to the priesthood: I would be learning to serve this experience to others as well as honoring its sanctity through my work.
But, with the power of the priest--a power that is given of others merely through the title, the garb, the list of commitments that each individual supposedly adheres to while practicing 'being a priest'--comes an unnatural and perhaps undeserved respect and power over others. Any respect and authority I want to be given I felt I needed to earn--from every single person, every single time I meet them. The priesthood felt intuitively like a breech of this sacred trust between individual humans. Still, to this day, I desire to help bring the sacred to everyone’s life. It's just that the arrogance of inherent and unearned power gets in the way--drives me away.
But, with the power of the priest--a power that is given of others merely through the title, the garb, the list of commitments that each individual supposedly adheres to while practicing 'being a priest'--comes an unnatural and perhaps undeserved respect and power over others. Any respect and authority I want to be given I felt I needed to earn--from every single person, every single time I meet them. The priesthood felt intuitively like a breech of this sacred trust between individual humans. Still, to this day, I desire to help bring the sacred to everyone’s life. It's just that the arrogance of inherent and unearned power gets in the way--drives me away.
We are all emissaries of Light and Love; We are all Priests.
Teacher – Similar to the priest, the teacher represents an ego-driven vocation in which a single human being allows him- or herself to take a position of power and authority over other human beings in order to “better” those individuals he/she is meant to serve. The real problem with the teacher model is that the term "better" is relative and different to every single human begin, every culture, every social group, every law, every mandate. Also, in our current society the position called "teacher" or "educator" has become so distorted: No longer is it the job of the teacher to help guide and expose the individual learner to information and experiences that will help that individual to find out what interests he/she is attracted to, to discover what is best and most enjoyable to each and every individual, to enable the discovery, development and unfolding of one's strengths, weaknesses and potentialities--but, instead, the teacher is a flow through cog in the proscribed dissemination of information and behavior patterns for a control group of consumer-minded and work-force recruiting, and socio-economically stratifying separation system. Not only is the teacher undeservedly afforded too much power and control over the body, mind and psychospiritual aspects of being human, but they, too, are under the severely controlling, fear-based manipulation of a hierarchical system of enslavement. “Teach this or lose your job." "Make sure your students learn this or lose your job." "Keep you kids in quiet, in straight lines, behaving in these certain ways or, lose your job.” The teacher can be a resource guide, a facilitator of self-awareness and self-improvement while always, always keeping in mind that every human being should be allowed to define himself and his own ever-changing versions of Beauty, Love, Joy, and Truth according to his/her own personal and ever-changing standards.
We are all mirrors and guides in the quest for self-awareness, self-improvement, and self realization; thus, We are all Teachers.
World Traveller – I became preoccupied in my youth with looking for that special place, that special art form, that special person that I believed would be necessary for me to fulfill, complete, make myself whole. What I eventually discovered that that person is me, my Self. All I ever need and all the Love, Beauty, Truth and Joy there is comes from within and through me. And using travel as an escape is an exercise in futility because wherever you go there you are. That is, every time you envision the new city, new home, new job, new country, new relationship as the thing you need to finally be happy, to finally feel fulfilled and satisfied you are deluding yourself because the real issues, the real discontent, dis-satisfaction, dis-harmony and dis-ease lies within you: you can never run away from your self. You can ignore, distract yourself from looking within, but the issues will remain there, unresolved, suppressed, festering and building in intensity until they are finally address, until they are finally given the attention they are clamoring for--the attention that you planned to give when you made your Plan for this trip to Earth.
The concept of the esteemed scholar/professor, confined his whole life to his home town, rarely even straying from the path from his apartment to the college or university of his employ or to the market and back and yet, through the tremendous knowledge and "experience" he is able to accumulate through his prolific book reading, he is able to discuss--in intimate detail--the streets, weather, peoples, museums and art, architecture of distant places around the world--this though he has never travelled outside the confines of his home town much less his country! This is an example of the power of the imagination--the power of information to trigger deep understanding, deep awareness, deep 'archetypal' information that is common to all of us at the soul level of 'memory.' Our real travels are on the inward paths we take.
The concept of the esteemed scholar/professor, confined his whole life to his home town, rarely even straying from the path from his apartment to the college or university of his employ or to the market and back and yet, through the tremendous knowledge and "experience" he is able to accumulate through his prolific book reading, he is able to discuss--in intimate detail--the streets, weather, peoples, museums and art, architecture of distant places around the world--this though he has never travelled outside the confines of his home town much less his country! This is an example of the power of the imagination--the power of information to trigger deep understanding, deep awareness, deep 'archetypal' information that is common to all of us at the soul level of 'memory.' Our real travels are on the inward paths we take.
Writer – As I've elucidated before, “fictional” characters have helped my unconscious, my Soul, to process and fulfill various paths of interest and curiosity. Writing—and all art and consciousness are mirrors of the writing process—helps to release “demons,” i.e. expresses a part of Self, follows the path Self could choose/could have chosen thus releasing Self from having to actually take that path! Drew Fisher has long been--and will continue to be--a writer.
Husband – one-on-one relationship always presents one’s Self with a mirror: we are attracted to the people, places, events, and things in this world because they offer us prime material and opportunities for reflection, re-evaluation, growth, and self-realization. Marriage is one of the most duplicitous human constructs because it can be so beautifully harmonious and fluid and yet it can also be ridden with conflict and stress. Marriage offers you an infinite number of experiences of Love, Beauty, Joy, and Truth (if you are willing to be open to see them), while, at the same time, you are daily faced with parts of your Self that you may not want to deal with. Marriage can be the most intense rollercoaster ride!
Where human cultures have abused the employment of the intimate partner relationship model is in institutionalizing marriage with blanketed rules and expectations it has developed and become attached to. The intimate relationship model only works if each of the partners is fully engaged in the acceptance, reflection and use of the Self-awareness and Self-improving information that is available, that is mirrored, in these intense and in-your-face relationships. If a relationship does not feel like it is serving you, or both parties are no longer able to feel the value or potential for growth in that particular relationship, then it may be time to move on. The great misnomer, however, is the illusion that once you have separated or divorced that that relationship is over, it is finished. This is far from the truth. Since any and every relationship is ultimately with ones Self, the dynamics and details of any and every relationship remain alive, active, and demanding of attention . . . forever! The Self-"work" that you were supposed to do through the use of one particular relationship will follow you over and over again until you have appropriately faced, processed and learned from the particular issues--after which there will, of course, be others. (Our work is never done!)
Where human cultures have abused the employment of the intimate partner relationship model is in institutionalizing marriage with blanketed rules and expectations it has developed and become attached to. The intimate relationship model only works if each of the partners is fully engaged in the acceptance, reflection and use of the Self-awareness and Self-improving information that is available, that is mirrored, in these intense and in-your-face relationships. If a relationship does not feel like it is serving you, or both parties are no longer able to feel the value or potential for growth in that particular relationship, then it may be time to move on. The great misnomer, however, is the illusion that once you have separated or divorced that that relationship is over, it is finished. This is far from the truth. Since any and every relationship is ultimately with ones Self, the dynamics and details of any and every relationship remain alive, active, and demanding of attention . . . forever! The Self-"work" that you were supposed to do through the use of one particular relationship will follow you over and over again until you have appropriately faced, processed and learned from the particular issues--after which there will, of course, be others. (Our work is never done!)
Father – Like marriage, parenthood offers a barrage of experiences and opportunites for self-awareness. Nowhere is the human being brought face-to-face with his or her own “shit” than when working with children.
Fatherhood for me ultimately enabled me to come face-to-face with the fact that, yes, indeed, I do have an agenda and that I can learn how not to push my own agenda on others so that they can then have the freedom (with supported space) in which to travel their own paths and discover their own “agendas.”
We are all Parents to our own undeveloped, growing, expanding, ever-learning, ever-curious, ever-eager "inner children." The person who can best nurture the individual's chances to notice, reflect upon, and learn from the information bombarding us at all times is a successful parent.
Fatherhood for me ultimately enabled me to come face-to-face with the fact that, yes, indeed, I do have an agenda and that I can learn how not to push my own agenda on others so that they can then have the freedom (with supported space) in which to travel their own paths and discover their own “agendas.”
We are all Parents to our own undeveloped, growing, expanding, ever-learning, ever-curious, ever-eager "inner children." The person who can best nurture the individual's chances to notice, reflect upon, and learn from the information bombarding us at all times is a successful parent.
Healing Arts therapist – Through my career as a massage therapist and chooser of holistic approaches to my own health and well-being, I have learned that no one “fixes” or “heals” another. In fact, it is only the Self that can allow health and healing to come shining through for itself; all dis-ease is but a reflection of inhibited soul light. The Ego/Personality can attach itself to some very powerful ideas and constructs which then proceed to inhibit the flow of soul life, soul information, soul plans. Restrictions of the flow of soul/spirit information lead to disease in the Personality bodies, which include the mental, emotional and physical forms. When a disease symptom becomes manifest in the physical body know that this is the spirit’s last resort effort to notify you that there is a very big restriction in the flow of Will, Love, Beauty, Truth, Joy or other Information coming from the spiritual realms--that there are serious issues that you have not been paying attention to and that need to be addressed and resolved or else the disease processes will continue to manifest themselves in the physical, emotional, or mental forms.
Farmer – Farming has allowed me to learn the joy of working with humankind's true nurturing Mother, the Earth. Working in a harmonious, symbiotic way has been the challenging part. Learning who work with Her, to take what She gives while trying to reciprocate Her gift-giving spirit, along with figuring out what is truly necessary to “feed” the Self—biologically as well as psycho-spiritually--has been one of the amazing lessons I face through farming.
Blogger, Podcaster, and Radio Show host -- sharing my love, my wisdom, my knowledge through the enthusiastic expression of my words is one of the best ways I have discovered to help promote my own continued growth. As information flows one cannot help but want to work it, kneed it, process it, keep what works for you, and let go of that which does not seem to serve you (now). The Throat Chakra is the human vehicle's place where Truth is expressed to the world: through the hands and things that the hands can manipulate, through the voice and ears in interpersonal communication, through music and writing, cooking and growing, touching and helping. These insignificant, 'small' and safe means of expression are my way of giving, of passing information through me and on to some other person who might resonate with it or resist it (both of which are equally valuable in the process of self-definition).
We all hope to find means to share love, share our purpose, share our ideas with others. Words, song, art are all means to this flow.
The Drew Fisher vehicle has been quite a valuable one for Journeyman Paul. Through Drew Fisher Paul has been able to put together many of the pieces of Life. Mastery of the laws of four-dimensional Earth-based life form is exhibited by use of the laws--use of the Illusions--whereas one used to be 'under the power of' and 'used by' the laws and Illusions. Paul is approaching the place in which he may choose whether or not to he deems a return to four-dimensional "school" as helpful for his continued growth and progress or whether he is ready and desirous of "moving on." There are, after all, other dimensions, other worlds, spiritual law, and other means to work with the Grand Illusions of Cosmic Creation.
We all hope to find means to share love, share our purpose, share our ideas with others. Words, song, art are all means to this flow.
The Drew Fisher vehicle has been quite a valuable one for Journeyman Paul. Through Drew Fisher Paul has been able to put together many of the pieces of Life. Mastery of the laws of four-dimensional Earth-based life form is exhibited by use of the laws--use of the Illusions--whereas one used to be 'under the power of' and 'used by' the laws and Illusions. Paul is approaching the place in which he may choose whether or not to he deems a return to four-dimensional "school" as helpful for his continued growth and progress or whether he is ready and desirous of "moving on." There are, after all, other dimensions, other worlds, spiritual law, and other means to work with the Grand Illusions of Cosmic Creation.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
"Rahmi," The Jungle Guide
Today's blogpost will take us into one of Journeyman Paul's most recent past lives. Sometime in the early 20th Century Paul was being hosted by a male body living in the tropical jungle regions just at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. "Rahmi" was born into what we would call a fairly "primitive" family, that is, he was born into a pre-industrialized, subsistence society. One of several siblings, Rahmi's family lived a hunter-gatherer life among a fairly small semi-nomadic tribe of about 24 souls. Rahmi's tribe would move seasonally from dwelling site to dwelling site in rhythm with the seasonal weather patterns which, of course, dictated the availability of food.
Rahmi's ancestors had established a time-honored circuit through some very treacherous terraine--partly as a way to keep it their own, partly for the sake of making it difficult for others to follow or want to move into their "turf." They chose to occupy some of the most isolated and cut-off from the rest of the world canyon valleys and sheer-faced rock caves. And still intruders found their way in. Defensive fighting was something that Rahmi's small band of tribesmen had never mastered. They had purposely chosen not to give attention to warfare and all the work that goes with it. Instead, Rahmi's tribe believed that they were merely integral parts of the whole jungle, part of the circle of life, neither outside nor above it. They had consciously chosen more of a "within nature" approach/attitude--what author Daniel Quinn calls "leaver" mentality instead of "taker" mentally. This attitude translated into meeker, more detached behaviors. They were much more accepting of the things that happened to them as they knew that such trials and tribulations fall upon all of Nature.
The dwelling sites in each of the tribe's seasonal stopping points were made up of several family homes constructed primarily of bamboo. The stilted huts were fairly sturdy with doors and windows merely open framed and the walls using bamboo lashed together in vertical formation in rows of singular thickness. The dwellings had fairly thick roofs made from reeds, grasses, and fronds which protected them from the heavy rains. The huts were built with the intention of lasting for years which meant that while the tribe was in residence they were under constant repair and maintenance. Interestingly, the structures were set up off of the jungle floor--usually from about four to six feet high. This was done as a protection against the flow of rainwater that would occasionally flood throughout the small pocket valleys that Rahmi's tribe chose to travel and occupy. The stilted huts also served as a means to discourage attacks from both animals and other humans.
Unfortunately, in Rahmi's world, it was this later aspect of their nomadic, foraging life that occupied most of the tribe members' minds. Raids and kidnappings from other more aggressive tribes were all too frequent and seemed to be only increasing in recent years. Much to Rahmi's frustration, it seemed that his tribe was never prepared, or at least never equipped well enough to defend themselves. The invading tribes were always more aggressive and willing to commit more violent acts in order to get their way. The emotional and physical toll that this state of living as prey to others played on Rahmi's family and village was so exhausting that his family eventually chose to leave the jungle.
Not far from the circuitous jungle paths travelled by his ancestors for more generations than anyone could count, at the very northern edge of the jungle, where the vast deserts of the Sahara began, lay a village where Rahmi's family decided to settle. Though they were at first lowest of the low on the social ladder, the hard working, humble family was eventually able to rise into mainstream social status. Rahmi's family's skills and ethics very quickly earned them enough respect from the other townspeople that fortuitous marriages were eventually made for his hard-working, resourceful sisters.
Rahmi himself so loved the jungle, so identified with his place within the jungle, that he alone of his family chose to remain when everyone else made the choice to move to the "city" at the edge of the desert. From a very early age it was obvious that Rahmi possessed many of the gifts and skills necessary for jungle survival. Around the age of ten he became accepted and relied upon as the tribe's principle scout and trail master. Such skills would have eventually placed him in line for some high regard and even leadership roles within his native jungle society--if his family had remained jungle nomads.
At first Rahmi would climb into high perches in the trees at the edge of the jungle where he could look down into the city. He would spend hours watching the activity in the sand- and mud-walled city, studying the people and their strange ways--always on the lookout for one of his family members. From what he could see, the people there seemed to have much more specialized roles and skills assigned to them. He couldn't help but notice how the townspeople seemed to trudge around the streets open spaces with such lack of joy or satisfaction. This worried him. He worried for his family.
At night Rahmi would sneak into the town and leave gifts of jungle items that he knew were treasured: fruit and nut "delicacies," big leaves that were used for wrapping, baskets woven from palm fronds, tree saps which were valued for their aid in cooking as well as for glues and medicinal salves, as well as favorite herbs that the townsfolk valued but were too afraid to venture into the jungle for. His gifts were always taken and used but he was never acknowledged, never praised or rewarded. The prevailing and dominant attitudes of the city-dwellers determined that anything coming from the jungle was evil, dangerous and to be feared. Therefore, Rahmi was shunned. He was treated as an outcast. And Rahmi took this treatment willingly--almost gladly. He knew that the "city" life was not for him--that the jungle was where he was most comfortable. Plus, he never gave up hope that some of his family would become frustrated with the rigors and boredom of city routines and choose to return to their jungle home.
So, Rahmi continued his jungle ways, traveling the jungle paths that his people had travelled for centuries, maintaining the trails and the stilt-built reed-huts despite the insidious ravages and challenges of an ever encroaching Mother Nature. He did all this willingly, dutifully, and, if someone were to have watched him, rather joyfully. The jungle was as much a part of him as was his hair and legs or his breath.
Where Journeyman Paul has found growth in the experience of serving an incarnation as Rahmi is in once again serving a lowly rung of human society--which Paul had thought he deserved from previous "failures" within normal or privileged cultural groups. Isolation, ostracization, solitude, living day-to-day and hand-to-mouth all fit the profile of the soul that feels that it deserves to suffer, of one who believes that they cannot possibly be an accepted member of society because s/he is not working as successfully as others. Where Paul was able to feel growth and progress through his use of the Rahmi vehicle was in the way that he was able to re-discover Joy through the joy that Rahmi felt and remained true to in his beloved jungle life: in the procurement and delivery of his clandestine gifts to the desert town, in his survival and foraging skills in the jungle, in the fact that he caused no direct harm or hurt upon other humans--even supposed enemies (as he had in his lives as French priests), in the fact that his family never really rejected him--though they always felt sorry and worry for him in his solitary choices.
Rahmi never married or partnered with other humans. This is a pattern that Paul's incarnations sometimes fall into due to the hurts and scars he carries from what he regards as failing in previous lifetimes. Perhaps the disappointments of his lifetimes as the Mediterranean mufti the complications of family life that led to his suicide and shame as Moriku, or the joys of spiritual accomplishment achieved as Chu-tsing and in so many other monastic lifetimes created this common tendency in Paul.
Though raised within a tribe that called themselves Muslim, Rahmi's tribe of origin was in truth more animistic in nature. Their Muslim allegiance served more as a thin veil that enabled them protection (from) and, later, inclusion among the nearby desert townspeople--who were overtly and devoutly Muslim. However, as the outcast outsider he was slightly removed from human religions as a whole--or at least a keen observer of the Muslim culture as well as of the "civilized" lifestyles of urban life choices. Thus, Paul's life as Rahmi served his desire to distance himself from religious orientations and dogma. As a matter of fact, I can recall many a time in which as Rahmi I watched from the trees of the jungle at the edge of the desert, looking down upon the small walled "city" my family had chosen to matriculate into, wondering at the choices being made by the miserable-looking people and exalting in my freedom, my self-sufficience, the color in my world (the jungle world was very green and lush; the town at the edge of the barren, sandy desert was drab-tan-brown--which is, in and of itself, a brilliant metaphor for the choices we humans make.)
The healing that Journeyman Paul was able to feel through the experience and processing of the experiences of life as Rahmi enabled him to return to the Spirit World with recovered wholeness, with less recriminations and guilt. Paul's experience in the Spirit World after his Rahmi life was lighter, happier, and social. Done was he with his self-imposed, self-created Purgatory world, he was finally ready and able to return to and revel among his beloved and loving Spirit Companions. And then he was ready to prepare for his next lifetime, the current Drew Fisher incarnation.
Rahmi's ancestors had established a time-honored circuit through some very treacherous terraine--partly as a way to keep it their own, partly for the sake of making it difficult for others to follow or want to move into their "turf." They chose to occupy some of the most isolated and cut-off from the rest of the world canyon valleys and sheer-faced rock caves. And still intruders found their way in. Defensive fighting was something that Rahmi's small band of tribesmen had never mastered. They had purposely chosen not to give attention to warfare and all the work that goes with it. Instead, Rahmi's tribe believed that they were merely integral parts of the whole jungle, part of the circle of life, neither outside nor above it. They had consciously chosen more of a "within nature" approach/attitude--what author Daniel Quinn calls "leaver" mentality instead of "taker" mentally. This attitude translated into meeker, more detached behaviors. They were much more accepting of the things that happened to them as they knew that such trials and tribulations fall upon all of Nature.
The dwelling sites in each of the tribe's seasonal stopping points were made up of several family homes constructed primarily of bamboo. The stilted huts were fairly sturdy with doors and windows merely open framed and the walls using bamboo lashed together in vertical formation in rows of singular thickness. The dwellings had fairly thick roofs made from reeds, grasses, and fronds which protected them from the heavy rains. The huts were built with the intention of lasting for years which meant that while the tribe was in residence they were under constant repair and maintenance. Interestingly, the structures were set up off of the jungle floor--usually from about four to six feet high. This was done as a protection against the flow of rainwater that would occasionally flood throughout the small pocket valleys that Rahmi's tribe chose to travel and occupy. The stilted huts also served as a means to discourage attacks from both animals and other humans.
Unfortunately, in Rahmi's world, it was this later aspect of their nomadic, foraging life that occupied most of the tribe members' minds. Raids and kidnappings from other more aggressive tribes were all too frequent and seemed to be only increasing in recent years. Much to Rahmi's frustration, it seemed that his tribe was never prepared, or at least never equipped well enough to defend themselves. The invading tribes were always more aggressive and willing to commit more violent acts in order to get their way. The emotional and physical toll that this state of living as prey to others played on Rahmi's family and village was so exhausting that his family eventually chose to leave the jungle.
Not far from the circuitous jungle paths travelled by his ancestors for more generations than anyone could count, at the very northern edge of the jungle, where the vast deserts of the Sahara began, lay a village where Rahmi's family decided to settle. Though they were at first lowest of the low on the social ladder, the hard working, humble family was eventually able to rise into mainstream social status. Rahmi's family's skills and ethics very quickly earned them enough respect from the other townspeople that fortuitous marriages were eventually made for his hard-working, resourceful sisters.
Rahmi himself so loved the jungle, so identified with his place within the jungle, that he alone of his family chose to remain when everyone else made the choice to move to the "city" at the edge of the desert. From a very early age it was obvious that Rahmi possessed many of the gifts and skills necessary for jungle survival. Around the age of ten he became accepted and relied upon as the tribe's principle scout and trail master. Such skills would have eventually placed him in line for some high regard and even leadership roles within his native jungle society--if his family had remained jungle nomads.
At first Rahmi would climb into high perches in the trees at the edge of the jungle where he could look down into the city. He would spend hours watching the activity in the sand- and mud-walled city, studying the people and their strange ways--always on the lookout for one of his family members. From what he could see, the people there seemed to have much more specialized roles and skills assigned to them. He couldn't help but notice how the townspeople seemed to trudge around the streets open spaces with such lack of joy or satisfaction. This worried him. He worried for his family.
At night Rahmi would sneak into the town and leave gifts of jungle items that he knew were treasured: fruit and nut "delicacies," big leaves that were used for wrapping, baskets woven from palm fronds, tree saps which were valued for their aid in cooking as well as for glues and medicinal salves, as well as favorite herbs that the townsfolk valued but were too afraid to venture into the jungle for. His gifts were always taken and used but he was never acknowledged, never praised or rewarded. The prevailing and dominant attitudes of the city-dwellers determined that anything coming from the jungle was evil, dangerous and to be feared. Therefore, Rahmi was shunned. He was treated as an outcast. And Rahmi took this treatment willingly--almost gladly. He knew that the "city" life was not for him--that the jungle was where he was most comfortable. Plus, he never gave up hope that some of his family would become frustrated with the rigors and boredom of city routines and choose to return to their jungle home.
So, Rahmi continued his jungle ways, traveling the jungle paths that his people had travelled for centuries, maintaining the trails and the stilt-built reed-huts despite the insidious ravages and challenges of an ever encroaching Mother Nature. He did all this willingly, dutifully, and, if someone were to have watched him, rather joyfully. The jungle was as much a part of him as was his hair and legs or his breath.
Where Journeyman Paul has found growth in the experience of serving an incarnation as Rahmi is in once again serving a lowly rung of human society--which Paul had thought he deserved from previous "failures" within normal or privileged cultural groups. Isolation, ostracization, solitude, living day-to-day and hand-to-mouth all fit the profile of the soul that feels that it deserves to suffer, of one who believes that they cannot possibly be an accepted member of society because s/he is not working as successfully as others. Where Paul was able to feel growth and progress through his use of the Rahmi vehicle was in the way that he was able to re-discover Joy through the joy that Rahmi felt and remained true to in his beloved jungle life: in the procurement and delivery of his clandestine gifts to the desert town, in his survival and foraging skills in the jungle, in the fact that he caused no direct harm or hurt upon other humans--even supposed enemies (as he had in his lives as French priests), in the fact that his family never really rejected him--though they always felt sorry and worry for him in his solitary choices.
Rahmi never married or partnered with other humans. This is a pattern that Paul's incarnations sometimes fall into due to the hurts and scars he carries from what he regards as failing in previous lifetimes. Perhaps the disappointments of his lifetimes as the Mediterranean mufti the complications of family life that led to his suicide and shame as Moriku, or the joys of spiritual accomplishment achieved as Chu-tsing and in so many other monastic lifetimes created this common tendency in Paul.
Though raised within a tribe that called themselves Muslim, Rahmi's tribe of origin was in truth more animistic in nature. Their Muslim allegiance served more as a thin veil that enabled them protection (from) and, later, inclusion among the nearby desert townspeople--who were overtly and devoutly Muslim. However, as the outcast outsider he was slightly removed from human religions as a whole--or at least a keen observer of the Muslim culture as well as of the "civilized" lifestyles of urban life choices. Thus, Paul's life as Rahmi served his desire to distance himself from religious orientations and dogma. As a matter of fact, I can recall many a time in which as Rahmi I watched from the trees of the jungle at the edge of the desert, looking down upon the small walled "city" my family had chosen to matriculate into, wondering at the choices being made by the miserable-looking people and exalting in my freedom, my self-sufficience, the color in my world (the jungle world was very green and lush; the town at the edge of the barren, sandy desert was drab-tan-brown--which is, in and of itself, a brilliant metaphor for the choices we humans make.)
The healing that Journeyman Paul was able to feel through the experience and processing of the experiences of life as Rahmi enabled him to return to the Spirit World with recovered wholeness, with less recriminations and guilt. Paul's experience in the Spirit World after his Rahmi life was lighter, happier, and social. Done was he with his self-imposed, self-created Purgatory world, he was finally ready and able to return to and revel among his beloved and loving Spirit Companions. And then he was ready to prepare for his next lifetime, the current Drew Fisher incarnation.
Friday, April 3, 2015
"Chu-tsing" and "Moriku"
You may remember from last year's podcasts that it was after the deathing experience in the Mediterranean mufti's lifetime that a stunned and ashamed Journeyman Paul retreated to a self-created "purgatory" or "limbo"--an empty world occupied solely by himself. The time spent here in solitary isolation was a self-imposed punishment that Paul felt was necessary for him to be able to recover and heal from what he chose to perceive as "failures" from that lifetime--that is, the arrogance, ignorance and tunnel vision created by his culture and surroundings and latched onto by his Ego/Personality. Once Paul felt ready, he chose to return to his Spirit Guide, Malena, and to then try to rejoin his Soul Family and Council of Wise Elders. Then he moved forward to plan his next lifetime.
Journeyman Paul chose Asian bodyminds for two of his next incarnations. He found himself desiring a change of scenery, a little variety, as he was feeling frustrated with the experiences provided by the European versions of Homo sapiens sapiens. The first of these Asian lifetimes was in China. This male, whom we shall call "Chu-tsing," was born about two hundred years ago into a fairly average family that lived on the outskirts of a village or town that was growing due to increasing trade traffic on the road that went through it which connected more key governmental urban centers. Chu-tsing is the same boy who grew up as devoted childhood friend and playmate of Toril and who was sent away to a distant monastery after having been caught in open defiance to Toril's parents.
You may remember this lifetime from last year's podcasts. It is the one in which young Toril was subjected to the painful custom of foot-binding. It was her family's hope that by using Toril's beauty they might attract the attention, interest and, hopefully, placement within the household or court of one of the local lords or magistrates. The procurement of a place for a young girl within one of these noble homes--as wife, concubine, or even household servant--was usually for life and often guaranteed financial reward and upward mobility for the girl's family.
Foot binding in its various forms was a fairly common and accepted practice in parts of Asia. Who knows where and why small feet became desirable and valued. It was, however, usually associated with improving the 'beauty' of the child/woman and often served as a potential means to bettering a family's socioeconomic standing. Perhaps girls/women in a frail and fairly immobilized state became symbols of the subservient role and demeanor that was expected form and by men--and especially men of wealth and power. It sounds like just another experiment in dominance and subjugation by the insecure yet physically more powerful male of our species.
Anyway, as a consequence to both his incendiary rejection of this torturous practice and his unbound love for his friend (his Cosmic Twin), Chu-tsing was sent away. He spent the rest of his life in abject poverty, enslaved to a mountain monastery as a physical laborer. Though he lived as an outcast and was never able to enjoy the normalcy of marriage and fatherhood, much less ownership of property or master of a valued trade skill, his hours of solitude did, in fact, result in spiritual advancement. He was able to find a place in which his acceptance, detachment, and the workings of his internal mind (his imagination) allowed him to develop a fairly high degree of access and use of some of his spiritual faculties. Telepathy was one ability he possessed though he never understood it as such. He simply believed he was talking to either spirits or ancestors or another voice within himself. Thus he never was able to take full advantage of this skill--nor did he develop it to the degree he could have had he understood it properly. Though he never saw Toril again in this lifetime, she was never far from his thoughts and, in fact, he communicated with her through thought and prayer in a way that benefitted Toril throughout her tough life of subservience and forced obedience. Chu-tsing, however, was never aware of this.
Chu-tsing learned to accept his station and learned to find fulfillment in the way he chose to fully commit to whatever job was assigned to him. He loved to work his body, to be alone, to sleep soundly at night, and was content to eat the scraps of food he was given--learning that the human body could perform amazing tasks if the mind and spirit were willing. As a child discipline would not have been an easy acquisition for him as he was prone to flighty lapses into his imagination and drawn to endless explorations of and meanderings among Nature around him. Thus, the monastic servitude was an ideal means to Journeyman Paul's acquisition of discipline--which then paved the road for higher capacity for spiritual energy flow. This exposure to the flow of Ray 1, the ray of Will, Power, and Sacrifice, was just what Journeyman Paul had been looking for.
Some other lessons Journeyman Paul was able to realize from the Chu-tsing incarnation include: patience, detachment from the emotions and expectations of others, enjoyment of moment-to-moment thought and activity, peace and joy in menial tasks, appreciation and gratitude for small gifts like the warmth of sunshine or the cooling of a breeze or the happy feeling in his body with certain stretching movements or with a brief nap or the soothing effect the scraps of food he was given had on his perpetual hunger. Despite its hardships, this was a good life for Journeyman Paul--one that provided fuel and nourishment for skills and awarenesses that would serve him in his growth and evolution.
Journeyman Paul next incarnated into a Japanese host bodymind. This male, whom we shall call "Moriku," lived a fairly ordinary life in which duty and order were of supreme importance to him. Alas, duty and order were of supreme importance to all Japanese at this time. One could say that duty and order made up the very backbone of Japanese feudal society.
Moriku was a dutiful son, a dutiful worker, a dutiful villager, as well as a dutiful husband and father. The crucial test of his lifetime came when he was faced with financial ruin. As was expected of him by the customs of the time, Moriku took full responsibility and blame for the mistakes and misjudgments that he made which led to this ruin. If truth be told, however, the source of his ruin also came from occupying a place of too much pride--which was quite a common pattern among Japanese men at this time. Pride led Moriku to establish behavior patterns in which he was stubbornly unwilling to ask for help under any circumstances.
As a dutiful citizen and honorable servant of his overlord, his village, his province, Moriku felt that the only way for his family to not have to take on the shame of his failures was if he should take his own life. Suicide, or seppuku, was an accepted and much practiced choice within Japanese culture. In Japanese culture, honor was valued, respected and expected more highly than living in a life of shame and dishonor. The willful act of ceremoniously taking one's own life, he and his culture of the time chose to believe, would spare his family and village any more of the shame that his ruin would bring upon them by showing the will and courage and respect of his family and village by removing himself from the problem. At this time, this was the act an honorable family man would and should do under the circumstances he had brought upon himself.
However, in a bizarre and incongruous decision for the times, Moriku decided to try to hide the imminent news of his financial ruin from his family. He was too ashamed and afraid to share it, to face their faces, to experience his shame through others. Moriku's decision to take his own life also takes on a interesting twist in that in this, too, he made the decision to take it on alone: without warning or telling his family.
So, one day, while alone in his house, Moriku prepared the staging for a modified version of what was normally a formal ritual. The Japanese act of seppuku, which came from the millennia-old bushido code of morality, was originally reserved for the samurai class in imperial Japan. It was not typically a commoner's choice. Since no one in Moriku's family blood lines had achieved samurai status, his decision to commit seppuku demonstrates a bit of delusional thinking--which might have been the result of his guilt- and anxiety-ridden mind. Still he went through with the actions according to his understanding of them.
He knelt on a cloth which, he hoped, would catch all of the mess of the blood and entrails. He used a long sheathed knife that had been a family heirloom (but which had long ago lost its sharpness). He thrust the knife point into his belly and proceeded to direct the sawing motion of the knife edge upwards, toward his liver and heart. But then Moriku began to lose consciousness! Before making the final and "essential" cut left, across the center of the top of his abdomen (beneath the rib cage) he began to pass out!
His final thoughts as he slipped from consciousness were, "The shame! The shame I have brought upon my family!" Not because of his financial blunders and male pride but because he had failed to complete the appropriate cuts according to the rules of seppuku!
Shame and inadequacy are oft recurring and powerfully disrupting themes in Journeyman Paul's psychological patterning. Feelings of low esteem, a pervasive desire to be alone and/or invisible, and stubborn, arrogant independence all serve to denote a lack of will, courage and awareness of one's inherent power. They are all also direct results of succumbing to a thorough immersion within the Great Illusions--and, of course, especially the Illusion of Separation. Were we all to re-member and understand our eternal tie to our Divine Source--as well as our underlying Unity in and with all things--we would be much stronger in our choice making and much less susceptible to the illusions of dis-ease and disharmony. Journeyman Paul's lifetime as the dutiful Japanese man taught him the dangers of societal conformity and extreme separation and isolation. Moving forward, these are great awarenesses to have! The "Moriku" lifetime was a source of jarring awareness and perspective. For these, Journeyman Paul is grateful and happy.
Journeyman Paul chose Asian bodyminds for two of his next incarnations. He found himself desiring a change of scenery, a little variety, as he was feeling frustrated with the experiences provided by the European versions of Homo sapiens sapiens. The first of these Asian lifetimes was in China. This male, whom we shall call "Chu-tsing," was born about two hundred years ago into a fairly average family that lived on the outskirts of a village or town that was growing due to increasing trade traffic on the road that went through it which connected more key governmental urban centers. Chu-tsing is the same boy who grew up as devoted childhood friend and playmate of Toril and who was sent away to a distant monastery after having been caught in open defiance to Toril's parents.
You may remember this lifetime from last year's podcasts. It is the one in which young Toril was subjected to the painful custom of foot-binding. It was her family's hope that by using Toril's beauty they might attract the attention, interest and, hopefully, placement within the household or court of one of the local lords or magistrates. The procurement of a place for a young girl within one of these noble homes--as wife, concubine, or even household servant--was usually for life and often guaranteed financial reward and upward mobility for the girl's family.
Foot binding in its various forms was a fairly common and accepted practice in parts of Asia. Who knows where and why small feet became desirable and valued. It was, however, usually associated with improving the 'beauty' of the child/woman and often served as a potential means to bettering a family's socioeconomic standing. Perhaps girls/women in a frail and fairly immobilized state became symbols of the subservient role and demeanor that was expected form and by men--and especially men of wealth and power. It sounds like just another experiment in dominance and subjugation by the insecure yet physically more powerful male of our species.
Anyway, as a consequence to both his incendiary rejection of this torturous practice and his unbound love for his friend (his Cosmic Twin), Chu-tsing was sent away. He spent the rest of his life in abject poverty, enslaved to a mountain monastery as a physical laborer. Though he lived as an outcast and was never able to enjoy the normalcy of marriage and fatherhood, much less ownership of property or master of a valued trade skill, his hours of solitude did, in fact, result in spiritual advancement. He was able to find a place in which his acceptance, detachment, and the workings of his internal mind (his imagination) allowed him to develop a fairly high degree of access and use of some of his spiritual faculties. Telepathy was one ability he possessed though he never understood it as such. He simply believed he was talking to either spirits or ancestors or another voice within himself. Thus he never was able to take full advantage of this skill--nor did he develop it to the degree he could have had he understood it properly. Though he never saw Toril again in this lifetime, she was never far from his thoughts and, in fact, he communicated with her through thought and prayer in a way that benefitted Toril throughout her tough life of subservience and forced obedience. Chu-tsing, however, was never aware of this.
Chu-tsing learned to accept his station and learned to find fulfillment in the way he chose to fully commit to whatever job was assigned to him. He loved to work his body, to be alone, to sleep soundly at night, and was content to eat the scraps of food he was given--learning that the human body could perform amazing tasks if the mind and spirit were willing. As a child discipline would not have been an easy acquisition for him as he was prone to flighty lapses into his imagination and drawn to endless explorations of and meanderings among Nature around him. Thus, the monastic servitude was an ideal means to Journeyman Paul's acquisition of discipline--which then paved the road for higher capacity for spiritual energy flow. This exposure to the flow of Ray 1, the ray of Will, Power, and Sacrifice, was just what Journeyman Paul had been looking for.
Some other lessons Journeyman Paul was able to realize from the Chu-tsing incarnation include: patience, detachment from the emotions and expectations of others, enjoyment of moment-to-moment thought and activity, peace and joy in menial tasks, appreciation and gratitude for small gifts like the warmth of sunshine or the cooling of a breeze or the happy feeling in his body with certain stretching movements or with a brief nap or the soothing effect the scraps of food he was given had on his perpetual hunger. Despite its hardships, this was a good life for Journeyman Paul--one that provided fuel and nourishment for skills and awarenesses that would serve him in his growth and evolution.
Journeyman Paul next incarnated into a Japanese host bodymind. This male, whom we shall call "Moriku," lived a fairly ordinary life in which duty and order were of supreme importance to him. Alas, duty and order were of supreme importance to all Japanese at this time. One could say that duty and order made up the very backbone of Japanese feudal society.
Moriku was a dutiful son, a dutiful worker, a dutiful villager, as well as a dutiful husband and father. The crucial test of his lifetime came when he was faced with financial ruin. As was expected of him by the customs of the time, Moriku took full responsibility and blame for the mistakes and misjudgments that he made which led to this ruin. If truth be told, however, the source of his ruin also came from occupying a place of too much pride--which was quite a common pattern among Japanese men at this time. Pride led Moriku to establish behavior patterns in which he was stubbornly unwilling to ask for help under any circumstances.
As a dutiful citizen and honorable servant of his overlord, his village, his province, Moriku felt that the only way for his family to not have to take on the shame of his failures was if he should take his own life. Suicide, or seppuku, was an accepted and much practiced choice within Japanese culture. In Japanese culture, honor was valued, respected and expected more highly than living in a life of shame and dishonor. The willful act of ceremoniously taking one's own life, he and his culture of the time chose to believe, would spare his family and village any more of the shame that his ruin would bring upon them by showing the will and courage and respect of his family and village by removing himself from the problem. At this time, this was the act an honorable family man would and should do under the circumstances he had brought upon himself.
However, in a bizarre and incongruous decision for the times, Moriku decided to try to hide the imminent news of his financial ruin from his family. He was too ashamed and afraid to share it, to face their faces, to experience his shame through others. Moriku's decision to take his own life also takes on a interesting twist in that in this, too, he made the decision to take it on alone: without warning or telling his family.
So, one day, while alone in his house, Moriku prepared the staging for a modified version of what was normally a formal ritual. The Japanese act of seppuku, which came from the millennia-old bushido code of morality, was originally reserved for the samurai class in imperial Japan. It was not typically a commoner's choice. Since no one in Moriku's family blood lines had achieved samurai status, his decision to commit seppuku demonstrates a bit of delusional thinking--which might have been the result of his guilt- and anxiety-ridden mind. Still he went through with the actions according to his understanding of them.
He knelt on a cloth which, he hoped, would catch all of the mess of the blood and entrails. He used a long sheathed knife that had been a family heirloom (but which had long ago lost its sharpness). He thrust the knife point into his belly and proceeded to direct the sawing motion of the knife edge upwards, toward his liver and heart. But then Moriku began to lose consciousness! Before making the final and "essential" cut left, across the center of the top of his abdomen (beneath the rib cage) he began to pass out!
His final thoughts as he slipped from consciousness were, "The shame! The shame I have brought upon my family!" Not because of his financial blunders and male pride but because he had failed to complete the appropriate cuts according to the rules of seppuku!
Shame and inadequacy are oft recurring and powerfully disrupting themes in Journeyman Paul's psychological patterning. Feelings of low esteem, a pervasive desire to be alone and/or invisible, and stubborn, arrogant independence all serve to denote a lack of will, courage and awareness of one's inherent power. They are all also direct results of succumbing to a thorough immersion within the Great Illusions--and, of course, especially the Illusion of Separation. Were we all to re-member and understand our eternal tie to our Divine Source--as well as our underlying Unity in and with all things--we would be much stronger in our choice making and much less susceptible to the illusions of dis-ease and disharmony. Journeyman Paul's lifetime as the dutiful Japanese man taught him the dangers of societal conformity and extreme separation and isolation. Moving forward, these are great awarenesses to have! The "Moriku" lifetime was a source of jarring awareness and perspective. For these, Journeyman Paul is grateful and happy.
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