• Working with Aspects of the Soul: Perfect Poise

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    It was a day of struggling to find the presence of perfect poise. I only felt it momentarily a couple of times. That moment  of first connecting with it was long past and the necessities of life seemed to be battering at the door. Find employment, let go of your addictions, follow your dreams, find your passion, open yourself to beauty, be grateful for all that you have now.

    As has been the pattern for the last few weeks I began by posting. I wasn’t sure if it was my best that I was giving. I had in the back of my mind a movie I was wanting to reconnect with on Sky. They were playing Scent of a Woman, one of my all time favourite movies. The plot summary is at the link. Al Pacino is brilliant in the character of Lt Col. Frank Slade. Chris O’Donnell is very accomplished as Charles Sims who has taken the job of looking after him over Thanksgiving weekend. Slade takes Sims with him to New York on what he’s planning will be his last hurrah. He plans to commit suicide after allowing himself a few last indulgences.

    There are many wonderful moments when you’re touched by the soul of the characters, in particular Frank. Beneath his tough exterior there is the softness of a soul that has experienced moments of bliss and these are rendered even more exquisite by the fact that he is blind.

    Charlie shows his mettle when confronted with Slade preparing himself to take his final step. Charlie is also struggling with a demon of his own unsure of what to do in the circumstance.

    As Charlie has saved Frank, so Frank takes Charlie’s side in the film’s final showdown.

    That’s the power of perfect poise. Allowing integrity to be your guide. That scene always brings tears to my eyes.  I’m moved by it. I wonder where that place might be in me. The power to change my life. Have I yet to reach that low point where I say enough is enough? That depth from where power finally comes in such potent fashion. I’m in awe of the sight of someone standing in their magnificence.

    I’m at a crossroads, in fact each conscious moment is a crossroads where I can choose to stand in my power or shrink away. Frank says he always knew the right path but never took it because it was too hard. It seems this is a mirror for my own life. Each time the right path becomes clear and I’m asked to choose it, I have shrunk away from it. And yet life will keep offering the right path to me maybe unto death. Each time the circumstances seem more difficult not to take it. It’s like life is saying to me, “What are you going to do now, pal”.

    Ok. I receive your message. It’s loud and clear. Life wants me to expand my conception of who I really am. It’s as if the waves of the big bang are still expanding the universe and everything in it and we can’t help by being carried along with it. The line “Get busy livin or get busy dyin” from The Shawshank Redemption comes in here as well. What am I doing when I feel most alive?

    Having said that there is stuff going on the background moving me forward. Paths taken. I know I’ll get there. Those around me are assisting in however I experience them.

    On my way to the Gnostic seminar late in the afternoon I had a loop going on in my mind about everything being bullshit, illusion. That maybe those proponents of being in the light are increasing the amount of darkness we experience. After all is not the world always in harmony? Is it not always seeking balance? The feeling I get from these Gnosticians is a sense of this balance without a need to create or bring more light to the world. They are there with what is.

    In the seminar they were speaking about their Creation Myth. In their experience the path is the divine finding its way downward into Man and then once established within, Man then projects this sense of divinity outward into life itself. Part of that experience they call The Being. The way it was written up I imagined it was an entity. As I contemplated it further and connected with it as a quality and sensed again the wonder of perfect poise.

    Before I arose this morning I read a little of the The Serpent Grail. It made reference to the Gnostics and their relationship with the snake in the form of Ouroboros (the snake with its tail in its mouth) which to them symbolises eternity and the world soul. And again the coiled snake loops back to the labyrinth I was speaking of yesterday, the journey within.

    The labyrinth was also likened to the way our brains are unfolded within the skull. I was present to a conversation yesterday discussing enlightenment by having the corpus callosum severed. I googled it this morning and while this particular excerpt didn’t mention enlightenment within this context it did say that people that had undergone this procedure could do some things seemingly impossible.

    Wheels within wheels within wheels…..

    Blessings

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  • Working with Aspects of the Soul: Inner Calm

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    Have patience. Endurance is one of the characteristics of the I AM Presence.

    As I write I’m feeling less patient with this process and wanting to give it all up and go back to a life that seemed somehow easier.

    Having said yesterday that I was sleeping well, I awoke this morning while the sky was still dark. And the thought going through my mind was “say something one day and life turns round and plays a different card the next”.

    Never mind, it wasn’t as if I was lying awake all night worried about the prospect of today. Because today is about perfect poise, while what I’m writing up here is yesterdays stuff in case I have some illuminating moment in the middle of the night.

    I’ve taken a moment to read the section on perfect poise because yesterday I neglected to and didn’t create an intention with the subtleties of the aspect of Inner Calm. I spent the day cultivating a sense of Inner Calm without taking into account the rest of what I’d written about it – the nuances of patience and endurance.

    Once I’d posted yesterday and had some breakfast I worked on a job application for a children’s health camp here in Christchurch. As I look back now I see a sense of resignation at the time. That this was something to endure rather than enjoy. And the end result reflected that. It also told me a lot about who I really am and how much of that is hidden. The requirement for the application was to fill out the form correctly. This I did. And on the surface of the application the person reading it would see that I’m a chef. There was space at the end of the form to fill the assessor in on the other things that make me who I am. I have studied many different fields over the last 10 years attending workshops and seminars in several personal and professional development modalities and yet I have no diploma, and very little certification to show for it. Who am I without that?

    A lot of the feelings and thoughts that were coming to me yesterday were around letting go completely of my work as a chef. There is still a tug to go back to the safety of that rather than advance boldly in the direction of my dreams.

    There is a sense of what Thomas Moore describes as walking the labyrinth. The soul journey can be arduous and full of twists and turns and dead ends. Sometimes it feels like I’ve been in a labyrinth for the last 10 years.

    In Greek Mythology Theseus, holding Ariadne’s golden thread so that he can find his way out again, walks into the labyrinth to slay the Minotaur .

    There’s been times when I feel as though I’ve dropped the golden thread and on the dirt floor searching for it so I may continue my journey. Maybe if I’d let go of being a chef earlier my life would have changed sooner. Maybe. I’ll never know. Having stayed in the trade opened a door in my mind to see cooking processes as having relevance in the field of self development.

    Why hasn’t it come together and taking off? I’m still in the labyrinth. I may even be in the process of slaying the Minotaur. Perhaps the Minotaur doesn’t need slaying but rather integrating.

    A white bull was gifted to the Minos the King of Crete by Poseidon. Minos decided to keep the bull and sacrifice one of his own herd instead. He did not honour what he had committed to with Poseidon.

    In time his wife became attracted to the bull and conspired with Daedalus to build a wooden cow. The cow was a decoy in which she secreted herself that she might mate with the bull.  The Minotaur was the fruit of their loins.  The Minotaur had the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man. Daedalus went on to build the labyrinth to house the monster he had played a part in creating.

    From one perspective I might see that the Minotaur representing the lies I tell myself  and the courage it takes to stop those lies. Am I being bull-headed about the process of my life? Am I honouring the calling of my higher self?

    Blessings

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  • Working with Aspects of the Soul: Serenity

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    I’ve been sleeping well. As I consider the struggles of my past – the ones that have kept insomnia barking at my door – mainly when relationships didn’t appear to be working any more, this current struggle is not keeping me up at night worried out of my head. Seems like a good thing.

    It has certainly been keeping a knot of something in my stomach at different times of the day. Fear probably, as I make this transition from one reality to another. I really had to remind myself often of yesterday’s intention. Serenity. I needed to breathe that into my awareness.

    And yet in the middle of it all there are gifts. Seeing and listening to others at peace with themselves was a gift to me while that knot seemed to be tightening. Sitting there under the Chinese Silk tree. If ever there was a tree helpful in evoking serenity that’s the one. It’s beautiful.

    There was an interesting moment when I looked for my previous post on another computer and it wasn’t there. I was kicking myself that maybe I’d mistakenly deleted it and was going over what I’d written in my mind and hoping I could get it all back. I asked myself in that moment what serenity was all about and the answer was seeing everything as perfect. I thought that having an empty space under the heading was perfect detachment. And was imagining fielding a couple of comments. When I got home and logged on to my computer there it was as if it had never disappeared. It was perfect.

    Coming home and clearing email. Seeing one from Joe Vitale in which he was offering a free download to his subscribers. I opened the file and found a bonus pdf which turned out to be an e-book version of what he believed to be one of the most powerful books on manifestation written . It’s called Attaining Your Desires By Letting Your Subconscious Mind Work for You by GENEVIEVE BEHREND. If you’re unable to get a copy from him you can get one at scribd.com.

    I understand the process of manifestation and yet here was a text that thoroughly elucidated what to do when it seemed that whatever you were endeavouring to manifest wasn’t working. Whether you were struggling with disappointment, fear, sensitivity or other manner of upset most of the remedies outlined consisted of breathing, walking, affirmation.

    All methods for coming back to serenity.

    I found myself moved to work on my vision board and become clearer on what I really wanted my life to be about. I look forward to it unfolding.

    Blessings.

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  • Living in Soul: Aspects – Part Three

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    Serenity
    A deep calm devoid of emotional disturbance distinguishes the disciple who is focused in “a mind held steady in the light”. The surface of his life may be in a state of violent flux. I spite of all he stands firm, poised in soul consciousness and the depths of his life lie undisturbed. This is not insensitivity – it is intensity of feeling transmuted in focused understanding.

    I know the state of violent flux. I stand in it at this point. I spoke in the previous post of my financial condition. There is an inner knowing within I need to make a change in my life and what is change but flux. The infrequency of employment weighs heavy at this time but I know this is only temporary. I sit here composing my post. The sun is blazing away in the sky at 7.30 pm and there is stillness as I write. Birdsong is gentle yet persistent. They’re speaking to each other and to me. Plants need water and I’ll wait for the intensity of the sun to drop before I slake their thirst. I feel serene within – my heart does not complain. Serenity touches me most when I’m in nature. It is there at all times if I stop myself to feel it.

    Inner Calm
    Have patience. Endurance is one of the characteristics of the I AM Presence. The I AM Presence is that which is immortal within us. It is always seeking to be acknowledged in our lives…. The attitude and experience of Inner Calm is for all those who persist in their high endeavour, who count all things as nothing unless they achieve the goal and who steer a steady course through circumstances, keeping eyes fixed upon the vision, the ears listening for the voice of the God within that sounds in the silence of the heart; the feet firmly placed on the path that leads to the Portal of Initiation, the hands held out in assistance to the world, and the whole life subordinated to the call of service….. Then all that comes is for the best – sickness, opportunity, success and disappointment, the lack of comprehension on the part of those we love – all is but to be used, and all exists but to be transmuted.

    Patience, endurance. Am I being patient? Am I enduring? Or am I in a place of safety, fearing moving into a life of service. Service I take to mean bringing all of the talents I have acquired on the journey for the good of the community. Living my vision, living my One Decision. Surrendering to both and allowing the magnificence to take me. To be here in this moment in Perfect Poise feeling the exquisiteness of the Beloved Presence.

    Perfect Poise
    The freedom from emotional reaction which enhances mental clarity. I ponder this and what comes to mind is a texture of absolute unity with my vision. A place where I won’t allow myself to be distracted from the Path. A place of no fear. The place of absolute knowing. Not only absolute unity with my vision but an eternal unity, a oneness with life’s perfection.

    The more I ponder Perfect Poise the deeper the subtlety of its effect on being. What would my life be like in a constantly perfectly poised state? Not only is there unity within and without but a sense of infinite opportunity and possibility. It is a place of soul connectedness. A place as it says free from emotional reaction. Open to whatever life requires from you in each moment without attachment to concerns which are all illusory in an abundant universe.

    I begin to see the beauty of perfect poise when I look below at the characteristics of Wisdom and Intuition and see how it provides the space for them to be fully present at all times. It is a wonderful gift.

    I had a conversation with my boss after I finished work the other day regarding my plans for the New Year. In the back of my mind were the concerns of the infrequency of the work at this time of the year and because of that financial pinch I was experiencing. I got home later and started working on the post and looking at Perfect Poise and I saw the conversation could have been very different if I’d been in that poised state.

    Freedom
    The more your soul grips you, the more your mind will awaken, and feeling (in the personal sense) fade out. Feel free, but be sure it is not a freedom demanded because the sense of failure to organise your time and reduce your personality to rhythmic living hurts your pride. The more you take hold of your soul, the more you will learn to use the time as a responsibility. Beware the glamour of freedom.

    Beware the glamour of freedom. Yes. Freedom do what? If the freedom comes not from using all with which you are gifted in service to the greater good, then freedom takes on an emptiness.

    I thought I loved the freedom to have a cup of coffee on the way to and then on the way home from work at a particular couple of cafes. Yes it did feel good to do that – to take time out to and from work, supping great coffee, reading my book, forming relationships with the staff over time, chatting with them, sharing a joke.

    While it had all those good points I realized that a habit had formed during that time bordering on an addiction. Almost a co-dependence that only I was aware of. The same could be said of my working as a chef. That, I feel, is also a form of co-dependence. I said to a colleague earlier this year that it wasn’t actually the cooking that was a possible addiction but rather I was co-dependent on the money I was receiving from it. How insightful that comment was has really hit home as I regard how I’ve been feeling without money making its way regularly into my bank account over the past two or three weeks.

    Bureaucracy likes to label us. It makes their job easy. Its easier to keep a person on the same path rather than in assisting them to change to a fuller expression of their talents and gifts.

    When regular income withered I went to a government department for assistance until such time as it would flourish again. I said to them that I wanted to change paths to encompass the other talents I’ve acquired over the years and it seemed that all they wanted me to do was apply for one of the hospitality positions that they had available. I walked out. There is sometimes no reasoning within bureaucracy. This was another indicator of how free I wasn’t.

    Another benefit of this period of scarce income has been eating less – maybe only one meal a day without any pangs of real hunger. More insight on how we can become habituated to our routines. Having had a client who had fasted for 21 days and in talking with friend who was familiar with the fasting process I am fascinated by how little we may need to live a healthy lifestyle without the rigors of intense physical training. The longest I have fasted for is four days and I was surprised at having only minimal hunger during that time. As my body adapted the process was easy.

    True freedom is in my mind and my heart. If I’m feeling trapped by external circumstances I change my thought processes regarding the trap and take action based on those new thoughts.

    Wisdom
    Wisdom deals with the essence of things rather than the things themselves. It is the intuitive grasp of the truth without the reasoning behind it. It is our innate perception allowing us to distinguish between the false and the true, the real and the unreal.

    It is…..The growing capacity of the Thinker to enter increasingly into the mind of the Logos, to realise the true inwardness of the great pageant of the universe, to vision the objective, and to harmonise more and more with the higher measure.

    It is.….The realisation of the Kingdom of God within.

    As I mentioned before wisdom comes from a state of perfect poise. It is a connectedness to the divine in each moment. Wisdom is always with us if we take a moment to merge with our soul presence.

    Wisdom comes with experience. We understand an event by being mindful during its unfolding. Allowing all its textures, sound, physical sensation, taste, sight, smell to create a fullness within. Experience is neither good nor bad it just is. And through our humanness we have the faculties to discover what it is about any event that will assist our evolution to greater expression of ourselves. What is we perceive as pleasurable is indicative of our higher path. What we perceive as disagreeable can lead us to the places within we needed to work on.


    Intuition
    Intuition is the energy which carries revelation of divine purpose and brings with its appearance three qualities:

    Illumination – the “Light of the Ages” – recognition through experience of the complete identification with the Universal Mind.

    Understanding – an increased ability to love all beings and yet at the same time preserve personality detachment.

    Love – the synthetic, inclusive grasp of the life and needs of all beings in which it is the high prerogative of a divine Son of God to operate. It sees no distinction, even when it appreciates need, and it produces in one who loves as a soul immediate identification with that which is loved.

    ……Thoughts of revealing potency for the helping of many may drop into the mind. Some new light upon an old truth may penetrate releasing this truth from the hindrances of orthodoxy, thus illuminating consciousness. Become sensitive to Divine Ideas. The hope of the world and the dispelling of illusion lies in the development of intuitives and their conscious training.

    ……Fleeting moments of this high freedom come to all true aspirants at times during their life struggle. They have then an intuitive flash of understanding. The outline of the future and the nature of the truth sweeps momentarily through their consciousness, and life is never again the same.

    Again the perfect poise of being anchored in our soul presence is a prerequisite of intuition. We all have this inherent ability. As with any strength it needs practice. It may manifest as inner vision, inner voice, or inner sentience. It is the sense of absolute knowing, of absolute truth as perceived by your soul essence.

    Intuition may challenge us to leave behind our physical perception and allow soul perception to take hold. It is asking us to evolve not only toward our perfection for this lifetime but also a universal perfection. That we may feel connected to all things.

    Intuition may call us to be more in tune with the elements of the natural world – as all is energy thus we are connected with the rocks, the plants, the animals and life-forms big and small

    Intuition can speak to us through the heart. Centreing and anchoring yourself in the heart if you’re feeling disconnected is one method of returning to the space of perfect poise. Practice being heartful. As heartfulness is firmly fixed as presence you open to more spontaneity and joy in your life.

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  • Working with Aspects of the Soul: Detachment

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    Learn the growth of that inner detachment which will enable you to merge yourself in the consciousness of your brother and so know and ascertain the best way to help him and stimulate him to renewed effort. Cultivate true humility to force yourself to give all you have in selfless service and then to forget you have given this of yourself.

    I had woken a little later than I anticipated and hurried through the discussion of the previous days activities with my previous post. The painting was continuing and I finally got there just after 9. We were expecting the weather to be super hot and it didn’t let us down. I was putting the finishing touches to one end of the house and then carried on with the work I’d begun a the front of the house. I’d imagined that the front of the house was going to be a little cooler after lunch because the sun would be moving round to the back. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I started to burn.

    I was frustrated because I’d been hoping to finish the work that day. Having said that it was ok we decided to finish early and enjoy the sun. I was able to catch up with a friend who is going through a disputes tribunal at the moment so was able to render him some assistance with paperwork.

    It is interesting to watch as the world mirrors our intentions. Here we were both facing challenges in our lives and yet both cultivating an air of detachment to it. Doing the best we can with what we have.

    It has been so easy going through the last couple of aspects. I’ve had no one at home so it has been relatively easy to maintain my composure. Any turmoil I’ve had to cope with has been my own inner process and though the fear comes up it also passes.

    Something I allowed myself to do a few years back when I was living by myself and thought I was going mad was to go deeper into the feeling. To consciously plumb the depths of that particular feeling/mindset. The deeper I entered the experience the less heavy it seemed until eventually I began to laugh. A joyous laughter. The laughter of a discovery that what I’d imagined was real was actually false. The discovery of paradox, of contradiction in the moment. It was the ultimate slapstick where you kick yourself up the back side and fall in a puddle of mud.

    Let life be funny, it is one way to detach from worries.

    Blessings

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  • Working with Aspects of the Soul: Impersonality

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    You need to learn the lessons of accepting guidance from your own soul and of learning to work with harmony and impersonality on the physical plane with the group or groups to which your destiny impels you

    I felt a little caught up in my challenges yesterday and it took some reminding from time to time what the day’s intention was. I noticed last night when I attended a shamanic circle that after one of the women had presented us with the gift of a sound healing – a toning from her Hathor guide, she’d somehow expected it to bring up emotion in me. I felt that what she’d done was inspiring and beautiful and yet I imagined I might have been displaying a coolness on the surface while I felt blessed by her sharing.

    I talked to another friend of mine during the day and he had been going through some stickiness in a relationship and it was interesting to hear him say that when he’d chosen to deal with it from a place of impersonality that something had changed within him. When that happened he’d felt more aligned with his soul purpose and things started happening for him in his external world.

    I see impersonality as another way of opening to creation. There is a freedom in this state. In the presence of the moment I am able to accept whatever is happening simply. I have a choice to attach meaning to it. When it was said that more emotion was expected during the circle I didn’t feel moved to feel a negative emotion but allowed myself to express genuinely what had gone on for me during the toning.

    Neale Donald Walsch in his latest book Happier than God speaks about having choice about the meanings we attach to events. He says “the meaning of everything is the meaning you give it”.

    If you invite your soul to offer guidance what will it say to you when you are faced with challenging situations? Can you allow yourself to bring new meaning to your experiences where before you may have attached a negative connotation?

    Blessings

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  • Working with Aspects of the Soul: Neutrality

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    The day seemed to be almost perfect when I consider neutrality. I wasn’t caught up in negativity and allowed the day to flow. The painting of the house continued. The rear of the house is almost complete. There’s a little around the windows to do and when I stood back and took it all in from a vantage point behind the trees in the garden there was a beauty to what we had a achieved. There was a moment touched by perfection where not only the new paint was the focus, but all that I was conscious of as I opened my perspective to include the garden created a sense of wonder.

    painted-house

    Neutrality is a state of openness. The word Chaos originally meant an opening. From that opening the world was created. As I allow myself to be in that state I am being present to my creative essence. As I feel the creative essence within I become open to life’s calling. What is it I wish to create?

    The breath is a perfect tool for bringing me back to the state of neutrality when I find my thoughts becoming chaotic. Most of us tend to breathe in a shallow manner not inflating the lungs fully. Diaphragmatic breathing brings us a fuller experience of our lungs and draws the breath to lower regions of the lungs. Following the breath is also a method for inducing a meditative state. Meditation itself is a neutral space where we can watch the flow of our thoughts and not become attached. And as the thoughts die away we experience the ultimate neutral space. Into this place we may send questions wait in neutral and receive answers. The answer may not come immediately but arrive later as we continue with our daily lives. We may feel ourselves drawn to take a certain route. Pick up a particular book. Call a person who appears in our mind. Follow these inspirations.

    A perfect example of this happened on Monday when I arrived to paint the house. My friend mentioned that she’d found a poster for a talk on Gnosticism. I have an ongoing interest in Gnosis. Their tenet of self knowledge and an immanent divinity has a soundness to it when compared to the dogma of various religions. And all I have had is what I have been able to read about online or in books. This was an opportunity to see and work with real Gnostics. So I went along to a talk on the Kabbala last night. The presenters have been in New Zealand for almost a year and this was their first series of talks. It was interesting to develop a feel for what seems to be a complex subject – and yet it is pathway for connection to our divine self. Thank you.

    Neutrality is the perfect space to return to and cultivate the sense of gratitude when we’re feeling the challenges of our everyday lives. To see the gifts that life has given us along the way. What we may be perceiving now as negative is only temporary and by being grateful we invite more gifts to come into our consciousness.

    Blessings to all.

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  • Working with Aspects of the Soul: Loneliness

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    In solitude the rose of the soul flourishes; in solitude the divine self can speak; in solitude the faculties and the graces of the higher self can take root and blossom in the personality. Alice A. Bailey, The Soul The Quality of Life.

    From a weekend of sharing where I sometimes felt alone within the challenges I was facing, to a day of loneliness where I never felt alone or lonely. The sense over the weekend was that on the one hand here I was struggling for monetary income and on the other were my brothers and brother-in-law all with salaried positions. And I know the comfort that brings, having spent at least 20 years of my early working life with the comfort of a salary.

    Yesterday began with the posting to the blog. I connected for a short while with the brother I’m sharing a house with. He was going away for a few days so When I arrived home I’d have the house to myself. Once I’d completed posting I had a little breakfast and raced out the door. I’m painting the house of a friend. She lives by herself and has a sense of care for her house and section. It has a quaint feel about it – As if one is stepping into another world as you enter the gate. I’m working on the higher places. We were on different sides of the house, each alone in our focus on the part we were painting.

    I am getting a sense as I write that perhaps Loneliness is the wrong terminology for this particular aspect. Maybe it would be better to call it Aloneness. Maybe not. For me the word Aloneness speaks of either having made a conscious choice to be alone or possibly fate has chosen a path for us that we need to experience in order for our soul’s evolution.

    I know that each time I have left a committed relationship I have a greater sense of the variety and beauty that life holds. There are times when I have felt lonely within that and at the same time there is a sense that I am able to fully be with whatever else I’m doing at any moment in my life and not have that little voice come in and say you should be at home now. If I am fully engaged in the moment I am living and loving what I’m doing, I’m flowing, and flowering, I’m letting go and letting God as the saying goes. And in that space I’m alone with the beauty of existence. I may try to share that in words and words may come up short. And another’s experience of that place while the theme is the same.

    I felt a connection to the butterfly motif I wrote about in yesterday’s post when I considered loneliness. The caterpillar creates the cocoon around itself. And then begins its metamorphosis over a period of time into butterfly. It must go through this experience alone in order to be transformed. Once the transformation has occurred the butterfly then lays eggs and the cycle continues. Some butterflies lay a single egg while others lay theirs in clusters. I imagine those clusters of eggs create a mass consciousness so I hark back to…He is breaking loose from the mass consciousness with which he has been merged This period of metamorphosis is a lonely experience. And yet in the end there is beauty. It is interesting that the ancient Greek word Psyche is ascribed not only to the Soul but is also their word for butterfly.

    Blessings to you all.

    It is almost impossible to be lonely these days especially online with a lot of people Twittering. I’ve seen people with 10’s of thousands of followers. I’m not sure if they’re doing as a marketing ploy or what, but it is possibly a way to get lost in a mass consciousness. Having said that I am on Twitter following maybe 6 people. I guess discernment is the key and being aware of what you are wishing to create.

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  • Working with Aspects of the Soul: Sharing

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies Comment

    As always the world is a perfect reflection for me. I stayed over at my sister and her husband’s place after the gathering on Friday night. I allowed the weekend to unfold. I was asked if I’d like to go with them to Akaroa where my brother Stephen was going to spend his holidays. I said yes.

    Though I had nothing monetary to contribute I had to allow myself to be shared with. I’m finding it exceedingly difficult not being able to offer goods towards the cause. I managed to round the seven children up and get them away to the park with some assistance to give the mothers a break.

    And contributing with preparation of food and cleaning. And yet I felt like I hadn’t given enough. I had an interesting conversation with my brother and brother in law when I shared how I was feeling about what I was doing with my life and where I wanted to take it. I was aware of some of the literature about change and having some of those closest to us offering the most resistance. And here it was.

    Had I attracted that with my thoughts? That idea had certainly focused my attention when I had read it. I wonder how I may be affecting my reality at this point by focusing on my perceived lack of monetary resources. And yet I feel something strengthening within. Something deeper that doesn’t want to lie down and give up. That wants to see me arrive at the fullest expression of my life as it has been building to this point.

    Life seems to want more from me otherwise I’d not have created such a challenging obstacle for myself. An image that came to me over the weekend was that of a butterfly, struggling to throw off the bonds of its chrysalis. As it moves inside the chrysalis it is building the muscles required to not only break open its cocoon but also once in the open to be able to fly, to open its beautiful wings unto the world. In creating situations for ourselves whether we are conscious of them or not we allow the strengthening of the muscles of our awareness and create the perfect vehicle for breaking into a more beautiful expression of who we truly are on this physical plane of existence.

    Another idea that I was present to was how perfect the internet is for us to experience the law of attraction. We Google something and often there are millions of results to choose from. The world is sharing itself with itself. Another beautiful expression of consciousness. The more we refine our search the less options we are given. The more we focus our attention the closer we get to what it is we really wish to receive. Whatever we are wishing to experience it is right here. The world is a perfect reflection of what we are experiencing within our minds.

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  • Living in Soul: Aspects – Part Two

    Posted on by AndrewMichaelChallies 1 Comment

    Aspects of the Soul

    Sharing, Loneliness, Neutrality, Impersonality, Detachment

    This is week two of the process. Like last week I’ll be posting as I form a daily intention based on the each of these five aspects.

    Sharing
    The characteristic of sharing is a principle which covers all realms; the physical (food, shelter, goods); the mental (information, learning) and the spiritual (things that nurture our soul, beliefs around the sacred, ideas that fill us with enthusiasm for life). Whatever we possess can be shared. And when shared graciously will nuture all souls that have been touched by the act. Sharing is the synthesis of giving and taking it touches both parties. It increases the power of that which is shared. If one has discovered what they imagine to be some sort of elixir, something with life enhancing properties why would one not want to share it. The act of keeping it for himself and holding tightly onto it would have him withering and eventually dying.

    Loneliness
    The following is in snippets from The Soul The Quality of Life.
    Bailey’s words better illuminate loneliness from a spiritual perspective. The understanding for me was more meaningful and I didn’t want to dilute the power of her words. The first comes from the chapter “Relationships of the Soul” the second from “Characteristics of the Soul”.

    (a) One of the primary conditions that a disciple has to cultivate, in order to sense the Plan and be used by the Master, is solitude. In solitude the rose of the soul flourishes; in solitude the divine self can speak; in solitude the faculties and the graces of the higher self can take root and blossom in the personality. In solitude also the Master can approach and impress upon the quiescent soul the knowledge that he seeks to impart, the lesson that must be learnt, the method and plan for work that the disciple must grasp. In solitude the sound is heard. The Great Ones have to work through human instruments, and the Plan and the vision are much handicapped by failure on the part of these instruments.

    (b) …..Loneliness comes when the disciple steps out of a life of physical plane concentration and finds himself in the midway place between the world of outer affairs and the inner world of meaning…..from the tangible world to which he is accustomed must, he knows, be superseded by the intangible world of values and new responsibilities…… He is breaking loose from the mass consciousness with which he has been merged, but has not yet found his group, into which he will eventually be consciously absorbed….. Be not afraid of loneliness. The soul that cannot stand alone has naught to give…… In this solitude there is no morbidness, there is no harsh withdrawing and there is no aspect of separateness. There is only the place where the disciple stands, detached and unafraid and in that place of utter quiet the Master comes and solitude is not.

    Neutrality
    Neutrality is one of the suggestions I found useful in the HeartMath Solution. The authors propose that when you’re unable to find anything to appreciate about a situation imagine feeling neutral toward it. The Bailey material referred to this as Spiritual Indifference. It involves not getting caught up or attached to feelings or moods that stimulate pain, distress and also excitement within our bodies. While our bodies are our vehicles for this earthly experience and need to be nurtured, constant negative feelings can be unhealthy. From a soul perspective, while their shade provides a richness in the colour of life, the negative needs to recognized as a pointer without getting caught up in or attached to it.

    Confusing mood, feeling and sensation within our bodies as spiritual reality can lead first to illusion and then addiction. Though addiction prevents the soul from making itself known in our lives it can be a signpost to soul consciousness.

    I think about addiction as habitual behaviour embedded in our personality. We may be conscious of it but it has become a trap. A trap in that we imagine it is needed so that our lives may continue as normal. Addictions to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes can be life-threatening and there are also what Judith Wright calls soft addictions which may include moodiness, surfing the internet, gossip, cellphone usage, television, overeating, procrastination.

    When I catch myself sinking into a soft addiction adopting an attitude of neutrality is useful to ease my way out of it. By introducing a more positive attitude, focusing on purpose or vision for my life, the addiction gradually loses it hold.

    Impersonality
    When a man is beginning to live as a soul, and when his consciousness has shifted away from the world of illusion, then he can be useful……. The true picture of the world’s need releases you from your own ambition and sets you free to work with no thought of self or of spiritual happiness and with no desire for any self appointed task; with no longing for glittering promises of future success and with no demanding ache for the tender touch and contact with those greater in consciousness than ourselves……. You need to learn the lessons of accepting guidance from your own soul and of learning to work with harmony and impersonality on the physical plane with the group or groups to which your destiny impels you.

    The idea that comes to mind as I read this is presence. During my Holistic Life Coach training one of the catch phrases we heard often was…. Your presence is enough. To be present with the client without wanting to fix them, without feeling you need to do something. Within that presence I am connected to soul and if I hear my heart calling that is the time to offer myself to the process.

    The other idea that comes to mind is from Don Miguel Ruiz’s book, The Four Agreements. One of the Agreements he encourages readers to cultivate is taking nothing personally. Each of us is doing the best with what life has gifted them. If we are experiencing something challenging it is about our own internal processes rather what anyone may be doing or saying to us.

    Detachment
    One of the processes of meditation is that of witnessing. Becoming the watcher of what is happening within as I endeavour to quiet the mind. I become a trainspotter following the train of thought, though not being attached to it. The carriages of thought can contain a cargo of emotion and this observational attitude is useful so I don’t get hooked into the feelings thought may generate.

    When I bring this witness with me into everyday life I don’t get caught up in other people’s stuff. I am able to allow their process to unfold and just be with them in that and as before let presence show the way.

    By standing serene there is no more waste motion, no more mistaken moves, and no more false interpretations, no wandering down the bypaths of daily living, no seeing others through distorted and prejudiced vision and – above all – no more misuse of force.

    Resources:

    D.K. through Alice A. Bailey:
    The Soul The Quality of Life

    Doc Childre & Howard Martin:
    The HeartMath Solution

    Judith Wright:
    There Must Be More Than This:Finding More Life, Love and Meaning by Overcoming Your Soft Addictions

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