THE FOLLOWING BLOGS WILL BE ABOUT 

CONSCIOUSNESS IN NATURE

#1
WIND - BREATH - PRANA(Yoga) - CHI (The Tao) -RUACH (Hebrew)
MOYA (Zulu)

OR SPIRIT
"WIND GAVE BIRTH TO SPIRIT"

This blog on the Creators "Wind" or Breath will mostly be about the 

"Unknowable."

The mysteries of creation and these teachings are to be savored and meditated upon. I will not even begin to try and explain them but they speak to what Creation was all about from the beginning. 

Others have expressed similar lapses in our understandings.

And Einstein; 

"Our knowledge is the knowledge of children. We will know a little more of what we know now, but the true nature of things we will never know, never."

The sages 

and the primal shamans who arose out of the hunter gatherer archetype, possibly may understand a little more of what the mystery of nature is all about.

The hunter gatherer in order to survive also had to live beyond the five senses. S/He was in intimate contact with nature and knew how to take advantage of natures' bounty using skills as well as altered states of consciousness to hunt and gather.

A book was written on the curandero or shaman Eduardo Calderon called 

The Wizard of the Four Winds. 

In my two short encounters with him I noted that in his rituals he would salute the Four Winds and Four Directions by spraying chicha, the local brew, in each direction with his mouth as a sign of gratitude and respect.

Luther Standing Bear said; 

"It was only when the white man came that wilderness existed." 

Indigenous peoples had always been in intimate contact with nature until "civilization" came and turned their lives around.

However, if we care to return to the "Garden" ...

The Ancestors

The Zohar

The Ancestors

This is true for all the

Four Beings;

Still or Silent

Growing

Wild (or domesticated)

Talking or Human 

We are all animated by these "Four Winds" or the Breath of the Creator. We are all made of the same elements and all have consciousness but different vibrations. As the Ancestors teach;

We are all one though not the same.

The Ancestors

and hence

Druid saying

The Ancestors

Each of the Four Beings of nature is constantly being animated by Divine breath - a different vibration for each.

Pranayama or the yoga science of breath meditation is one way of acknowledging and feeling that we are continually being animated by the breath of the Divine until the Grim Reaper comes to take it away.

The Ancestors

Click on the link to highlight, then play and ponder

03 A River Arose.mp3

THIS IS THE LAST OF THE BLOGS ON

GRIEF & SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION

(The next blog will be on how Indigenous Wisdom and Shamanism can help all of us in this troubled world.)

I thought that in this final blog on the subject I would leave you with some quotes to help us all on our way through grief and back onto the difficult path of "Becoming."

The Ancestors

Click to highlight then play

_-_MP3s/12_Patricks_Shield.mp3

GRIEF AND SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION # 9

What other methods can we use to help us get beyond grief, sorrow and sadness ?

In line with the prior endorsement for song being one of the most powerful, there are more of these on today's blog than usual (if you choose.) It's often best to sing yourself out of grief.

Laughter

Norman Cousins cured himself of a debilitating autoimmune disease by watching funny movies. He wrote a book about it called Anatomy of an Illness. Hunter Campbell who inspired the movie Patch Adams opened a clinic for using humor as medicine. A good belly laugh especially has been shown to potentiate the immune system. The vigorous movement of the diaphragm is also thought to stimulate the vagus nerve inducing a relaxation response. 

In spite of this truth below it is useful to look at other benefits of laughter.

Alexander Lowen the founder of Bio-energetic psychotherapy believes that the convulsive actions of uncontrolled laughter frees up muscular tension releasing armoring and locked in holding patterns thus freeing up energy and emotions. Laughing can lead to crying, which is also a powerful healing modality for the cardiovascular system. Like laughing, crying induces endorphin release. Both decrease sympathetic tone. 

These effects also occur during yoga and with body work in its various forms.

E.M.D.R. or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is proving to be a powerful form of therapy for relieving psychological stress in anxiety, depression, P.T.S.D. and various addictions including eating disorders. Directing eye movements  can allow constructive exposure to negative memories and thoughts which can be reformulated positively with the help of an experienced therapist. The stimulation may include "Tapping" which is thought to have a positive effect on acupuncture meridians and also release and relieve negative emotions.

The Ancestors tell us to

 be careful of what we taste and where we immerse.

  Avoidance of adverse stimuli is essential for healing.

We are inundated and manipulated in our daily lives with negative events in the media and elsewhere because these more easily get our attention. However, they also have harmful effects on the psyche and can aggravate grief. 

The Ancestors

They emphasize the benefits of gratitude as spiritual practice in our daily endeavors ...

Click on the link to highlight - then play

_Learn_Love.mp3

By doing service and helping others we can get beyond our grief. Buddhism tells us to take our suffering and make something useful out of it. 

It heals to help and helps to heal.

The Ancestors

It is never too late to take one's metaphoric boat out of the safe harbor, and take the risk of going of a hero/ine's journey to find more meaning and help consolidate one's archetype and core strength. More meaning will relieve grief in life.

An Ancestor or spirit guide practice can help us feel we are not alone.

The Creator also wants a personal relationship with each one of us even if we are not able to see, hear or feel Him/Her. 

Kabbalah tells us that God plays Hide and Seek but no-one wants to play or few realize that this is possible. We have to listen for the still, silent, soft voice of the Divine to have this confirmed.

Seek Me and you will find Me

Search for Me with all your heart and I will let you find Me. Jeremiah

A connection with our spirit guides is somewhat easier to fathom than one with the Creator.  They can come to us especially in dreams and day time intuitions.

The Ancestors

The Ancestors

Jesus said; "ask and you will receive."

This is true of the Creator as well as our guides.

Our spirit guides need to be asked so we can receive -

 free will is the cosmic law!

Click to highlight then play

-_MP3s/15_Wisdom_for_the_Way.mp3

Asking is best done through the medium of an ancestral or spirit guide altar. They can help us and in return they need our gratitude, love and forgiveness. We raise them up as the Zulus say when we pay them attention.

For those who want more details you can download and

VIEW: Connecting with Spirit Guides and Ancestors

(As I recall the part on the altar is toward the end if you do not want to listen to the hour plus talk.)

Click on the link to highlight then play

-_MP3s/10_Remember_Us.mp3

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GRIEF & SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION # 8

The Ancestors

The opposite or the antidote to grief is happiness so it is worthwhile looking at  Daniel Kahneman who won the Noble prize for his research in relation to 

THE REMEMBERING SELF  and

THE EXPERIENCING SELF

JOY IS A SENSORY, IN THE MOMENT, EXUBERANT EXPERIENCE. 
HAPPINESS - MORE  AN EVALUATION OF THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE AND HOW THAT FEELS.
It is the Experiencing Self that experiences true Joy - the Remembering Self can be more one of Happiness. 
The figure summaries my understanding of these two Selves. It is the Experiencing Self that has joy or happiness and that occurs in the present moment. Some folks seem to have a lower threshold for this than others and tend to be more joyful. This "Reset Point" may be in our D.N.A. but also relates to how we cope with stress resulting out of our experiences. Someone who has endogenous depression will have a different Reset Point or maybe none at all.

The Remembering Self on the other hand develops more of a "Synthetic" happiness that comes out of the memories of their life path and their fate - good or bad and what they did with the cards they were dealt. This has to do with many factors, including financial security and their successes having met their goals.
The Remembering Self is about our story.

When I left South Africa in 1975, I had an unhappy two years when I first arrived in California, trying to adjust to the culture. Though seemingly similar  in terms of climate and language it was completely different to what I had left behind. I actually even thought of returning but for political reasons thought better of it. My Experiencing Self was stimulated by the challenges and grateful for being where I was but not really happy. My Remembering Self only recalled the good times back home. With time I adapted and my Remembering Self became happy for the move. My rational mind adjusted my happiness Reset button and created a Synthetic happiness especially when I chose to recall the evils of Apartheid and the dark sides of living in South Africa. Even when I went back for my African "fix," and I immersed myself in the bush in my old ways of being, this no longer worked for me. I was happy to be in California but it was only later when I developed my love for California that my Experiencing Self began to manifest joy.

ONE ASPECT OF THE EXPERIENCE CAN SPOIL EVERYTHING AND THAT IS WHAT IS REMEMBERED!

According to Kahneman the key to the Remembering Self will depend on 
what happened last.
He gives a medical example of two groups having the same procedure that were studied prospectively. The one had a longer procedure so that one would expect their memory to be worse than the group with the shorter one. However, the shorter group ended off with a painful episode (that the longer group also had experienced but earlier on) and this minimized the fact that the procedure was shorter. 
This is relevant to remedying grief because a poor experience 
can also be superseded by a good one and that will be held in one's memory.

The Ancestors teach; 

"be careful of what you taste and where you immerse."

The Ancestors

This has tremendous relevance in terms of keeping ourselves exposed to positive and light vibrations.

TIME IS KEY HERE 
i.e. TO REDEEM THE EXPERIENCE BY IMPROVING IT IN THE TIME AFTER. 

 Kahneman states that money doesn't buy happiness but poverty (in the U.S.A. having less than $60.000 per year) creates misery. Being poor can be superseded in children by a regular routine, love and care and reading bed time stories (so that the end of the day is completed by a happy encounter.)

Perceptions change with loving care.

SUCCESS AND WORK = the Remembering Self

PLAY = the Experiencing Self

Keeping our mouths shut = a good idea

Of all the things one can do, the most important is spiritual practice. It stimulates our Parasympathetic nervous system, (also endorphins, serotonin, oxytocin) and allows us to subordinate Monkey or Narrow Mind to Spacious Mind. Breath work is a quick and easy way to do this especially the exhalation phase which stimulates the Parasympathetic Relaxation Response, increasing our threshold for stress.

In Yoga

UJJHAI or the VICTORIOUS

breath technique which sounds like waves of the ocean, prolongs the exhalation phase. If you are interested look it up on line. It is easy to master and establishes equanimity very quickly.

The idea is to elevate our threshold for stress by subordination our  Sympathetic and default Monkey Mind to Parasympathetic and Spacious (or Big) Mind overtones.

"If the head and the body are to be well one begins by curing the soul." Plato

However, sometimes one has to begin with the body. Somatic Psychology dictates that we also attend to our bodies.

Descartes said;

"I think therefore I am."

However, it may be more accurate to say,

 I feel therefore I am!

The Ancestors

The Ancestors stress the importance of sensory meditations.

This accounts for the popularity of yoga in the West for stress busting even if not for spiritual transformation. 

Taoism - shit happened

Buddhism - if shit happens it isn't really shit

Hinduism - this shit has happened before

Islam - if shit happens it is the will of Allah

Catholicism - shit happens because you deserve it

Judaism - why does shit always happen to us?

etc...

We need to take the shit and turn it into manure. Helping others is the easiest way to do this. As the Buddhists say; 

"take your suffering and make something useful out of it."

With the help of inner practices, sensory, or otherwise we can more easily get beyond the shit and EMBODY these wisdoms below.

The Ancestors

The Ancestors

Our guides and ancestors and the Great Spirit can comfort us too.

I highly recommend a Spirit Guide practice (there is a D.V.D. at davidcumes.com on this - Connecting with Spirit Guides. If you like ...

VIEW: Connecting with Spirit Guides and Ancestors)

-_MP3s/03_Wings_of_Love.mp3