Marketplace
Darwin’s Unfinished Business
Chapter 3
Evolution
Never Mind the Gonads,
Here’s the Real Agenda
It is time to look even more closely and critically at the orthodox evolutionary paradigm we are attempting to overwrite. To recapitulate, it is not that this paradigm is wrong, only that it is not right enough. It is not the whole truth. It is not the whole story. Obsessed with details like individual genes, it fails to capture the exuberant panache, confluential orchestration, and sheer organismic acumen of life, serving instead to reduce organisms and the sophisticated feats of biological engineering that they embody to merely this or merely that genetic mechanism. This is reductionism gone awry, the zealous urge to reduce autopoietic artistry into bits and pieces seemingly explicable in their own terms without reference to any bigger context. While we would never dream of reducing an acclaimed painting or a musical symphony in the same reductionistic way, Nature’s tree of life is treated differently.
The creed of merelyism tells us a lot about human psychology. It is clear that the majority of scientists and philosophers like to consider themselves and other humans as the sole possessors of “high” intelligence whereas the process, which built them (i.e., evolution, or Nature), is considered pointless and mindless. Therefore, any paradigm that bolsters this kind of merelyistic egoism is destined for a warm reception. The more that the complexity of life is reduced, the more smugly confident some may feel about themselves. The more we can remove signs of intelligence operating within the evolving tree of life, the more unique and esteemed human intelligence becomes. Merelyism attracts research grants and academic acclaim. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for alternative and more holistic approaches to understanding life. As we shall see in this chapter, a more holistic approach means an approach in which context (i.e., the sensible environment and the sensible laws of Nature operating therein) is the key factor with which to understand both the origin and subsequent direction of evolution.
In order to allow the new paradigm of natural intelligence to acquire momentum, let us begin by taking a basic example of a living organism and see how the old paradigm is applied so as to explain that organism’s existence. According to the thought experiment of the last chapter, we have already established that organisms represent significantly arranged systems/patterns of atoms, molecules, and cells. Now we need to see in even more detail how merelyism explains such evolutionary feats of organic organization. As alluded, genes are the key focus. A tiger will serve as our study example. Consider one in your mind’s eye.
Now, any sane, sober, and right-minded person gazing upon a tiger will doubtless be impressed by the apparent design, for a tiger is an exceptionally beautiful creature capable of running, hunting, calculating, digesting food, excreting waste and toxins, breathing, maintaining its internal temperature, healing itself, cleaning itself, reproducing, and so on. Flaunting beautiful autopoiesis, a tiger has what it takes to survive. Well, apart from the relentless threat of man, that is. Notwithstanding the threat of our species, tigers are patently highly efficient living organisms.
As we have ascertained, organisms like tigers are constructed from trillions of cells; skin cells, liver cells, brain cells, muscle cells, and so forth. These cells are themselves made up of trillions of molecules, and those molecules further made from atoms. A tiger is thus a singularly significant arrangement of physical material, untold trillions of basic parts orchestrated into a seamless and enduring pattern able to stave off entropy. In short, a tiger has striking natural design written in it and all over it. No wonder, then, that people in the past were tempted to see organisms as the work of a divine hand. But we live in more educated times. From our vantage point atop centuries of science, we are able to build upon Darwin’s revolutionary insights and see that multicellular organisms like tigers are not wrought ex nihilo by the hand of God almighty but are the manifest result of evolution through natural selection (i.e., the hand of “almighty” Nature). We have at least to buy into this idea before proceeding with our analysis.
Genes and DNA
Biological science tells us that the physical form of a tiger and its behavioral repertoire (its phenotype) are determined by its genes, those long sequences of DNA residing in each of its cells. We won’t take issue with this either. All the evidence points to the fact that DNA is a digital code (quaternary and not binary like computer code) bearing instructions on how to link amino acids so as to make proteins, which make cells, tissues, and organs. Genes, being discrete segments of DNA, which get replicated during reproduction, are thus sets of instructions for eliciting biological autopoiesis—they code for the components that, when organized, elicit the sort of nifty biological processes previously considered. In the tiger there may be gene complexes that control musculature or the immune system or fur coloration and so on.
The plethora of genes that exist within the tiger gene pool are precisely those genes that work, which confer upon tigers morphological and behavioral characteristics that serve to enhance the reproductive success of tigers. Genes for building strong leg muscles will obviously be passed on to future generations, because tigers with strong leg muscles will be able to run faster and thus hunt better. More food equals better fitness equals better reproductive viability. A gene, which made a tiger lopsided or extremely timid in the presence of herbivores, would not survive long, because such genes would obviously be selected against. So it is that the hand of Nature continually selects among various genes. Those genes bearing instructions, which aid the gene’s own success in replication, are favored by Nature, whereas less survival-favoring genes are selected against. Indeed, one can reason in this way about natural selection without actually having seen a tiger.
For more information on this book visit: www.innertraditions.com
The Power of Self-Healing: Unlock Your Natural Healing Potential in 21 Days
The following excerpt is taken from the book The Power of Self-Healing: Unlock Your Natural Healing Potential in 21 Days by Dr. Fabrizio Mancini. It is published by Hay House (January 2012) and is available at all bookstores or online at: www.hayhouse.com.
Food Allergens and Sensitivities
Our clever immune system is designed to differentiate between healthy compounds and potentially harmful substances. When it encounters one of these bad guys, it reacts by making protective antibodies or releasing certain chemicals. For some of us, our body overreacts, responding inappropriately to ordinarily benign substances, like wheat or milk. The body’s protective antibodies attach to perceived invaders, releasing histamine. This triggers inflammatory reaction that can affect the skin, mucous membranes, respiratory system, and/or gastrointestinal tract.
The most common symptoms of an allergic response are rashes, hives, itchy and watery eyes, runny nose, congestion, diarrhea, vomiting, and rapid heart rate, along with less obvious symptoms like fatigue, headache, bloating, and mood swings.
Some foods are allergens. The more common are wheat, milk, eggs, corn, soy, yeast, and chocolate. Certain food additives can provoke an allergic response, too. But no food or additive is exempt from scrutiny.
Healing a Food Allergy
Genevieve, a student at Parker University, told me that she had lived with food allergies her entire life, especially an allergy to nuts. In the last few years, she’d been experiencing mild reactions to even raw fruits and vegetables – the very foods that are supposed to keep us well.
On the advice of her father (who is a chiropractor) and a food allergy expert, Genevieve eliminated foods containing gluten from her diet. Gluten is a combination of complex proteins found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt and some other grains, Normally, it is easy to digest. But, for people with celiac disease, the body perceives gluten as a foreign substance and responds with a full-blown immune response. Immediate symptoms of celiac disease include bloating, diarrhea, abdominal swelling and pain. Longer-term symptoms include gastrointestinal disturbances, skin disorders, weight loss, anemia, muscle pain, fatigue and behavior changes. Over time, untreated celiac disease can substantially increase the risk of serious disease, such as gastrointestinal cancer.
Within two months of eating a gluten-free diet, Genevieve eased raw fruits and vegetables back into her diet. Her face looked less puffy, especially underneath her eyes. Most striking was the diet’s positive effect on her digestion and energy levels. If she cheated and ate something with gluten, her symptoms returned with a vengeance.
“I thought I’d have a difficult time giving up gluten because I craved pasta. I bought rice pasta as a substitute, and it fills the bill. This has definitely been a life-changing diet plan for me. I’m now gluten free not because someone told me I should be, but because my body is literally begging me to be. I’m finally in tune with what my body wants and needs in order to function to its optimal innate health.”
Food allergy pops up in only one to two percent of Americans, whereas food intolerance occurs in up to a whopping 70 percent of the population! Food allergy is an abnormal reaction to certain food proteins, usually triggered by the body’s immune system, that can cause serious illness and, in some cases, death. By contrast, a food intolerance is a delayed, negative reaction to a food, beverage or food additive usually due to insufficient levels of a specific enzyme.
The four primary types of known food intolerance are in response to: lactose, gluten, fructose, and histamine. In lactose intolerance, often misidentified as a food allergy, a deficiency in the enzyme lactase leaves some lactose undigested and allows it to enter the intestines. Bacteria processes the sugar and releases gas. This leads to the bloating, abdominal pain, and diarrhea characteristic of a food intolerance.
Gluten intolerance is the inability to digest or break down gluten. The condition can range from a mild sensitivity to gluten to full-blown celiac disease (which is recognized as a true food allergy). Fructose intolerance is a sensitivity to fructose, a natural sugar found in fruits, nuts, and honey. It’s frequently added to sweetened beverages such as sodas, sports and fruit drinks, bottled tea and coffee drinks, and flavored waters.
This intolerance can be mild or serious. The more serious form is “hereditary fructose intolerance,” a rare genetic disorder. People with this condition lack an enzyme needed to break down fructose during digestion, and this can result in liver and kidney damage. Typically, hereditary fructose intolerance is identified and diagnosed at young age.
The mild form of fructose intolerance is called “fructose malabsorption.” It means you have trouble digesting fructose. Symptoms include bloating, abdominal cramps, gas and diarrhea, but not kidney or liver damage.
Yet one of the most prevalent yet virtually unknown types of food intolerances is histamine intolerance. This means your body can’t degrade the histamine found in many foods due to inadequate activity of the enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO).
Histamine levels are very high in popular “guilty pleasure” foods such as pizza, beer, red wine, cured and smoked meats and fish, and many types of cheeses and nuts. As foods lose their freshness, histamine builds up in them. Unfortunately, millions of Americans have insufficient levels of DAO to process the high levels of histamine in many of the foods they love.
So how can you tell the difference between a food allergy and a food intolerance? Ask yourself: When do symptoms occur? If they are present within five minutes, it’s probably allergy. If they pop up after half an hour or later, it’s probably a food intolerance.
Allergy or Intolerance?
Could you have a food allergy or food intolerance? Ask yourself whether you experience any of these reactions soon after eating certain foods:
● Itching or tingling in and around your mouth
● Swelling in the mouth or in the “narrowing” or “closing” feeling in your throat
● Rashes, blotches or redness on the skin anywhere on your body
● Irritated or crying eyes, or runny nose
● Wheezing or difficulty breathing
● Feeling acutely sick or even ending up vomiting
If you answered even one “yes” to these questions, you may well have a food allergy.
Next, ask yourself whether you experience any of these reactions a while after eating certain foods:
● Bloating or pain in your stomach or abdomen
● A rumbling abdomen – perhaps accompanies by gas
● Constipation or diarrhea
● Tiredness and lethargy
● Headache or migraine
One or more “yeses” may – but only may – indicate food intolerance. However, understand that occasional reactions to your diet are natural, if only because you may have eaten too much (which may lead to indigestion, which is often confused with food intolerance) or if something simply hasn’t agreed with you. This is unlikely to be a food intolerance. But obviously, if you’re in great discomfort or are very worried about your health, see your doctor at once.
Your doctor may refer you to an allergist. If so, you’ll be asked to keep a food diary, in which you write down everything you eat and how you respond to it. You have to be very specific. Saying “Caesar Salad” is not good enough. You have to write down what’s in the Caesar Salad, croutons and all.
Next, you’ll probably undergo an allergy test. If you have sensitivities, you’ll have to eliminate the offenders, and add in certain self-healing foods and supplements. You cannot be cured of a food allergy. If you have a true food allergy, you must avoid that food.
Every so often, take time to look at your diet – what’ve you’ve added, what you’ve subtracted. You’re learning where you need to make self-healing changes in your life. Feel great about it!
Discover Your Soul Template – Marcus T. Anthony, Ph.D.
Book Excerpt
Chapter One
Frontiers of the Mind
Intuition, Intelligence, and Your Future
Enter the Zombie
One recent strain of thought in cognitive science maintains that we are not really conscious, and that there is no such thing as free will. We think we have choices, but it’s all a delusion. We are really just zombies.
These cognitive scientists have gotten it all wrong. Free will is the absolute essence of human consciousness. However, in a sense we have become a bunch of zombies. Yet the zombie state is not innate to humanity. It’s just that we have forgotten how to think, and especially how to feel, and other zombies keep telling us not to think about anything too important or to feel anything too deeply. Last time I checked, zombies were not usually too good at teaching anyone how to live and think. And just quietly, don’t ever tell a zombie that he’s a zombie. Zombies get offended, and the next thing you know, they want your brain. All these factors have created the zombie delusion.
What Is Integrated Intelligence?
Before we even begin to define integrated intelligence (INI), we should stop for a moment to ask what intelligence is. Intelligence is the mental ability that allows you to function successfully in a given situation. That’s about it, really. The fact is academics have been arguing about this for centuries and still can’t agree on much more than that.
It’s from this definition of intelligence that I define integrated intelligence as the ability to draw on the extended mind and all its intuitive capacities to function successfully and solve problems in your life. The extended mind, in turn, is consciousness that extends beyond the individual’s brain and connects us with spiritual realms. So, in a nutshell, integrated intelligence is using all the abilities of the mind, including the psychic, to live the life you want.
INI allows you to perform at least seven core mental functions.
Integrated Perception is the ability to sense the connections between and among things. Integrated perception includes the higher order enlightenment experiences where the individual’s sense of self expands beyond her immediate body.
Integrated Location is the capacity to sense where things are, without having prior information.
Integrated Diagnosis is the ability to intuitively find the cause of problems.
Integrated Recognition is being able to immediately know somebody or something without ever being told about them or it.
Foresense is when you sense what is going to happen in the future.
Integrated Evaluation involves being able to intuitively determine the wisdom or value of different options and choices.
Inspiration refers to creative knowledge and ideas that come to you from spiritual sources, not your conscious mind.
There are also two outcomes, which emerge from the successful application of INI.
Wisdom, which results from the capacity to use INI to create a life that is deeply meaningful and in alignment with your highest needs.
Transformation. This is a core shift, lifting you toward greater wisdom and intelligence and creating a higher level of consciousness. This causes a transformation of your entire being.
Where Integrated Intelligence Comes From
To speak in slightly simplistic terms, the knowledge in your mind arises from two sources. The first is mundane knowledge gleaned from life experience and the way your mind processes that experience. A lot is known and has been written about this in mainstream psychology. You can find out about it by opening any psychology textbook. The second source is beyond the brain, the home of the INI. This nonlocal mind incorporates several different sources of information. First there are the energy fields contained within each individual thing and the universe itself. The second source of transpersonal knowledge is the information that is given to you by Spirit.
Spirit will not grant you higher knowledge and power until you show you can handle it.
Spirit, in turn, consists of two channels of information. The first are spiritual entities, sometimes known as spirit guides, who have chosen to oversee part or all of your life and guide you through it. We all have them, although many people are completely unaware of this fact. The kind of information you are given by Spirit depends on your level of spiritual maturity and how much you need it. The second category of Spirit is the wisdom of the universe itself. Personally, I like to call this intelligence “God,” but this word has different meanings for different people. I tend to think of it in impersonal terms rather than the personal God of religious lore.
Now, even though the voice of Spirit is not in your immediate control, you can actively ask it for help. You can, and should, develop a relationship with Spirit. The more you actively seek out the assistance of Spirit, the more Spirit is able to work with you.
If you show that you are a person of wisdom, Spirit will repay you by giving you more knowledge and, by implication, more power. When I first began my spiritual journey, I met an Australian Aboriginal woman named Maria, who clarified this point for me. Maria was an intuitive counselor and a clairvoyant. Being young and naive, I sought her out for help. I have never forgotten what she told me. She said, “You will be given power by Spirit. But not yet.” I asked her why. She said, “Because you are not ready for it. If they gave it to you now, you might destroy it.” That was some seventeen years ago.
What she told me was true–for all of us. Spirit will not grant you higher knowledge and power until you show you are ready to work with the power in a responsible way. What you can do, regardless of where you are on your journey, is to work with Spirit in the only place you will find it–the here and now.
One Shared Heart
Recording Artist Kristin Luna Ray, Releases New Kirtan/Chant CD –
“One Shared Heart”
New world-music inspired Kirtan album “One Shared Heart,” with up and coming Kirtan/Chant artist, Kristin”Luna” Ray features internationally acclaimed guest artists Wah!, Girish, Alvin Young (Sean Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band), and more.
“One Shared Heart” is the second album to be released by Kristin Luna Ray (known as “Luna” by her friends and fans) over the last 2 years and the first of her albums devoted solely to kirtan and mantra. The songs on the album are diverse in styles from around the world, utilizing various Sanskrit mantras, danceable grooves, and featuring the pure and angelic voice of Luna. The album is set for an International Release Date of February 14th (Valentines day) and will be distributed by the prominent Spirit Voyage label.
Lloyd Barde (Music Editor of Common Ground Magazine / Grammy Selection Committee for New Age Music) shares,
“Some music just slides right into your heart, and opens a space of genuine listening that is fresh and delightful. Such is the case with ‘One Shared Heart’.. It immediately attracts attention, and that energy builds quickly with repeated listening. What will draw you in right away is the warmth and accessibility of the music on her brilliant new CD.”
Kristin “Luna” Ray is a singer/songwriter, teacher, and strong advocate of spiritual growth and wellness. She has worked with and shared the stage with recording artists such as Wah!, David Newman, Girish, Jai Uttal, Bhagavan Das, Shimshai and River Guerguerian. She believes music is the sacred soul of the voice and is committed to sharing music in a way that leads to greater understanding of oneself and to our connection to one another and the planet.
Luna shares, “Kirtan, chanting, and the use of mantra in music chose me, not the other way around,” Luna said. I’ve always considered myself a singer/songwriter, but chanting mantras reached out and grabbed me early on so it’s always been a part of my music.”
Many artists from the kirtan chant community including Wah!, Girish, and Alvin Young have contributed to the creation of the album fittingly called “One Shared Heart.” The album was also mastered by legendary studio engineer Hans Christian, who is known for working with artists such as Krishna Das and Snatam Kaur.
The album is in response to the growing demand for kirtan/chant music in the US. “I really felt it was time. People have been asking for the mantra music I play during festivals, yoga workshops and in kirtans for a long time now,” Luna said. “When I set the intention to make the album, just like using a mantra, I let go, and it took hold of me.”
“Luna’s ‘One Shared Heart’ is magical and luminous music. Luna has a unique quality in her voice that transmits something special, a kind of nectar that permeates each track. This CD has depth, mood, spirit, and great feel. It emits both peace and celebration and is an absolute joy to behold from start to finish!” says David Newman (Durga Das), international kirtan artist.
Kirtan is a form of Bhakti Yoga (“the yoga of devotion”) that involves call and response chanting blended with soulful music that is said to calm the mind and open the heart. The roots of Kirtan date back over 1000 years to India. The singing is accompanied by musical instruments and rhythmic drumming and the audience is encouraged to participate by singing, clapping and/or dancing.
The album coincides with Luna’s pregnancy and birth of her daughter Jaya (sanskrit for “victory”), an inspiration for the title and cover of the album. “It was a powerful experience to record the album through my pregnancy,” says Luna. “I was birthing two babies of sorts. As Jaya grew within me, the album grew and evolved. Now they are both here to share with the world.”
Luna resides part time in Asheville, NC, and part time in Costa Rica where she is co-founder of True Nature Education www.TrueNatureEducation.com
For more information on Kristin Luna Ray or the album “One Shared Heart,” please contact klrbooking@yahoo.com or visit www.KristinLunaRay.com.
Facebook: MusicofKristinLunaRay
Twitter: @MusicofLunaRay
SOJOURNS of the SOUL
Book Excerpt
One Woman’s Journey around the World and into Her Truth
By Dana Micucci
Taken from Chapter Two:
The Heart of Angkor
Surrender
Each day, Bob and I and the other conservators return to the conservation house in Siem Reap for lunch. We dine in a modest room at a long table on delicious grilled fish, rice and vegetables with a subtle sweet and sour flavor, which the Cambodian cooks prepare in an adjacent open-air kitchen that also happens to accommodate three toilets! (I try not to think about this.) I enjoy conversing with Isabel, a French architect, Juan, a charismatic stone specialist from Guatemala, and Nala and Sophea, two bright young Cambodian architects. It feels good to be part of a community, after focusing so much on my work and being alone at the bungalow each night. Sometimes we eat dinner together, too, after which Bob and Norma, a generous, good-natured woman who looks after me with a quiet maternal charm, invite me to their apartment upstairs for a nightcap. We relax on the veranda with a few beers and talk and laugh about our travels. The nights are humid and extremely dark, infused with the sweet scent of jasmine and illumined only by the distant glimmer of starlight.
After lunch one afternoon, Nala, Sophea, and I take a walk along the dirt road near the conservation house. Recent graduates of Cambodia’s School of Architecture, they are petite, attractive, and clever. Sophea is slightly taller and more reserved than Nala, who asks me many questions about life in America. Their English is excellent, and they have radiant smiles. Of course, I’m also eager to learn from them. Though they were just children during the Khmer Rouge’s reign, they still remember the chaos and destruction. Sophea’s father, a doctor, died in the genocide, as did many of their relatives.
“I worry so much,” Nala says. “The situation here is still not stable. I’m afraid everything will be taken away from us again.” Her face tightens with anxiety. Sophea nods in agreement, her eyes tearing.
“I’m sorry.” I don’t know what else to say, realizing that any attempt at consolation must seem empty and inadequate.
Sophea links her arm in mine. “Don’t worry.” She smiles lovingly.
“I wouldn’t blame you for not liking us very much,” I say, ashamed.
“Who, you mean the Americans?” Nala asks.
“Yes, all of us who contributed to what happened.”
“Oh, no, we like the foreigners,” Sophea says.
“Cambodians think they are good people,” Nala chimes in, without the slightest trace of resentment.
I’m surprised by this unexpected show of compassion and forgiveness.
“C’mon,” Nala grasps my other arm. “Let’s go to the temple!” She points down the street to a whitewashed bell-shaped structure crowned with a tapering spire.
“But what about the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot?” I ask. “How can you forgive them?”
“What’s done is done,” says Sophea, waving her hand as if banishing forever all painful memories. She meets my eyes with a sparkling smile.
“Married?” Nala asks.
“No, not yet.” I’m surprised yet tickled by her instant familiarity.
“Good. Neither are we,” Sophea says.
“Men. Too much trouble!” Nala giggles.
“But you must have a boyfriend.” I glance at each of them. “You’re both beautiful.”
“No boyfriends,” Sophea states flatly.
“Not good to have a boyfriend unless you want to marry,” Nala adds.
“I understand. So you are true feminists,” I tease. Then I realize that this word likely does not exist in the Khmer language, so I explain it.
They nod in agreement, and we burst out laughing as we walk arm in arm to the stupa. Once inside, we light some incense sticks and place them before the Buddha statue, which is surrounded with additional offerings of colorful flowers and fruits.
“We came last week,” Nala whispers, as she and Sophea bow their heads in prayer. “When our friend died.”
“Hepatitis,” Sophea adds solemnly. “We all passed around a candle and blew the flame toward her ashes in a jar.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because we are blowing in her spirit for her next life,” Nala replies.
“We don’t believe life ever ends,” Sophea reflects. “Unless you become enlightened and don’t have to reincarnate.” In Cambodia, I have been continually reminded of the fine line between life and death. At times, the two have seemed almost indistinguishable.
The following morning, we all take an excursion to Rolous, one of the oldest temple sites at Angkor, dating to the ninth century. It is less intact than the others and further afield. We are planning to spend the day there, and Norma has packed a picnic lunch. Though I’m excited about the adventure, I have never been so anxious about a casual drive through the countryside. For about an hour we bump along in the scorching heat in a big pick-up truck. The dirt roads are particularly rough as we head into what seems like an infinite no man’s land of dry, lifeless fields. We pass several military checkpoints and bunkers with machine guns pointed toward the road. I shudder as a tank rolls past. Again, the reality of this lawless, war-scarred country weighs heavily. And again, I wonder what I am doing in such a strange, inhospitable place. I remain slightly on edge the rest of the day, as we wander about the ruins inspecting the preservation work.
For more information on Sojourns of the Soul and author Dana Micucci, visit:
Awakening the Planetary Mind by Barbara Hand Clow
Awakening the Planetary Mind by Barbara Hand Clow
Book Excerpt
Chapter 9
Goddess Alchemy and the Heliopolitan Mysteries
Past-Life Regression under Hypnosis
Past-Life Regression (PLR) is a therapeutic method for recalling our “past lives,” and whether these stories are thought of as “real” does not really matter. PLR helps us access the themes of our lives. In a typical regression session clients are hypnotized, or induced into a light trance, and they are encouraged to go back in time to seek information that might assist them in their current life.
Often, by simply remembering key themes in the past, we can experience psychological breakthroughs that stimulate new growth in our current life. Crippling phobias can be eliminated–such as fear of water or heights–by having the client reexperience a drowning or fall in a past life. Sometimes overweight people achieve their normal weight after experiencing a past life when they starved to death.
Past-Life Regression emerged during the 1960s out of standard hypnotic therapy and psychological counseling, and now it is widely used by therapists to help clients access deep emotional themes. Beyond receiving symptomatic relief, some clients seek spiritual growth and transformation from Past-Life Regression sessions. When spiritual growth is the goal, PLR is greatly facilitated by using the concepts of karma and reincarnation, which teach us that we live many lives to work out emotional blocks. We return again and again, guided by our soul’s desire to learn, express love, and find spiritual meaning.
Gregory Paxson of Chicago was my first PLR therapist. Although PLR is a recent practice in our culture, it is actually an ancient and sacred tradition that was used to train adepts for thousands of years. Most people who do PLR sessions report past experiences in the linear space and time context, which surprises people. This is what makes me think there is a central, time-coded library that contains all our past experiences that anybody can visit at any time.
We seem to be souls who create experiences amid collective events, as if being alive is like being in a movie. Since 1999, when the Eighth Underworld opened, computer technology has made it easy to consider ideas like this. Computer files are organized by linear time based on crystalline clocks that are the essence of this Underworld’s resonance. By traveling through various times and experiencing different phases of time acceleration, I encoded the mental-emotional qualities of the 102,000-year-long Fifth Underworld. Anyone can reawaken these dormant capacities. PLR is tremendously helpful for clearing your emotional body and going beyond duality, because the therapist is trained to help you see all the aspects around a particular dilemma and seek resolution.
Greg Paxson thinks of memory as a “power of refreshment, of new life in harmonic resonance with the ancient earth of the heart.” When we explore this harmonic resonance, we experience ourselves as pure energy, which is what happens when we have a clear, diaphanous emotional body. Realizing that your feelings are the energy field that holds you in physical form is very liberating and expansive.
Paxson once said that our bodies of consciousness–physical, emotional, mental, and soul–are “holograms of different densities that are co-occupying the same physical space, vibrating independently and in harmonic interaction around the reference–the frequency of Self.” For him, an initiation is when higher energies are received into the person, permanently changing the energy frequency and functioning of that personality–that is, accessing nine dimensions simultaneously.
Theologians removed reincarnation from Christian theology 1,600 years ago, and since then the one-lifetime mentality has created a huge glut of unprocessed emotions. Individuals erupt ever more ferociously and irrationally with desperate and violent cries for help because they feel they must get married, have children, succeed at work, and be famous–all during one lifetime. They drug themselves, the frustration builds, and like a dam bearing the weight of the water, the pressure will build until it is breached. These intense inner complexes must be expressed eventually, which is why the initiation process has always been used in healthy cultures.
I’ve lectured to thousands about reincarnation and karma, and so far the biggest objection to the concept is that people say they hate the idea because they never want to be born again! This is why Western culture is ecocidal. Why bother to care for the forests and streams, the animals and insects, and the fertility of the soil if you believe you will not return again to this world? This one-lifetime mentality causes people to destroy the world. Some clients access lifetimes in which they experience terrifying cataclysms. PLR significantly reduces catastrophobia when people get in touch with cataclysmic lifetimes. The use of PLR in the midtwentieth century began clearing the collective mind, I’m sure of it!
For me, memories are like imagistic musical chords, and when we experience them again we enrich our current resonant frequency. Accessing our inner memories is like listening to Beethoven’s late quartets or Bach’s fugues. By feeling past vibratory fields existing deep within our brains, our current nine-dimensional structure tunes up. Like an old violin in the attic that is oiled, restrung, and played again, we become cosmic instruments in tune with the divine plan for ourselves as individuals and for our culture as a whole.
An excerpt from the Preface of Visionary Shamanism
An excerpt from the Preface of Visionary Shamanism
by Linda Star Wolf and Anne Dillon
Foreward by Barbara Hand Clow
“It is time not only to heal the past but also to learn from the future.”
Nut, the sky mother goddess of ancient Egypt, woke me up one morning before sunrise while Jupiter was still very bright in the dark night sky. I felt Nut’s shimmering presence downloading powerful information into my energy field. She arched her beautiful, indigo blue, star-filled body over me as I lay in my bed, caught in between the worlds, only half awake. Nut conveyed her message of sacred purpose to me through electromagnetic waves that filled my mind and heart with many strong images and emotions. Over the past year I’ve repeatedly heard the same inner message: “It is time not only to heal the past but also to learn from the future.”
Many people write, teach and talk about releasing past programming. But the time has indeed arrived for humanity to give equal attention to our future programming. This future programming is held within our archetypal DNA as well as our physical DNA and can be even more compelling than our past programming, once we surrender our ego’s agenda and open to our soul’s true purpose.
Make no mistake about it, the future self is very real, and many alternative realities are available for our imaginations to grab hold of. The imaginal selves, which together form the perfectly realized archetype of who we are really meant to be, exist in conjunction with the past selves but they do not always manifest in our current existence. When we begin to actively feel their pull within us, they are moving into our present life. In other words, our imaginal selves are eager and ready to be born into the world. They need our conscious cooperation to come into being, and as a result of their emergence, we will grow in self-awareness and wisdom.
Without the assistance of our imaginal selves, our development will consist of a long succession of woeful experiences. Suffering is very real on our planet. Genuine pain is all around us: in war-torn countries like Iraq and Afghanistan; in countries where environmental disasters have left millions of people without food or shelter; in situations where disasters resulting from human error have trashed the environment. The world around us is a reflection of our inner state of being.
As we collectively move into the new eon, we need to open to a much bigger vision for our future. This is an evolutionary shift that has been predicted by religious, spiritual, and shamanic traditions for thousands of years. The common prophecy has it that a time would come when we would need to wake up and see that we are all connected and a part of the world’s greatest challenges and opportunities for transformation. As we collectively shape-shift our consciousness away from addiction and into planetary service, we will begin to live and give from the fullness of our sacred purpose, simultaneously healing the world around us as we heal ourselves.
The earth and all its beings are calling out to the heart of humanity to heal its self and open to a larger reality. This is not a time for staying half asleep but for fully awakening and taking creative action in our lives. Staying stuck in the past is about addiction; opening to the future is about embodying the full measure of our energies of love and sacred purpose.
My personal spiritual commitment is to continue to rid myself of the immaturity and selfishness that blocks my soul’s true purpose. My hope, my prayer, and my faith is that we will all awaken from our deep slumber before it is too late. It is time not only to imagine a new Earth, but to create it. We must each find the love in our hearts that will inspire and motivate us to fulfill our unique role in helping to reshape reality. We begin by taking responsibility for changing ourselves and helping to open the portals in order to birth a higher love and wisdom, or, as the great master Jesus said, create Earth as it is in Heaven. It is time for humanity to shape-shift into its future self now!
Linda Star Wolf is the founder of Venus Rising Association for Transformation, Venus Rising University, the Shamanic Breathwork™ Process, the Shamanic Ministers’ Global Network and the author of several books on shamanism. Visionary Shamanism: Activating the Imaginal Cells of the Human Energy Field, published by Inner Traditions / Bear & Company, is now available in stores and on-line. Star Wolf will return to the Sanctuary at Sedona in December to teach Shamanic Egyptian Mystery School. To learn more please visit: www.shamanicbreathwork.org
Are You a Member of the Golden Motorcycle Gang?
Book by Jack Canfield
“Meet Up” with Jack Canfield in Hog Heaven
By Linda M. Potter
Picture Jack Canfield, the charismatic co-author of the Chicken Soup For the Soul book series and “America’s #1 Success Coach,” vroom-vrooming through the cosmos on a solid gold Harley… accompanied by a Gang of spiritual soul mates. Then… picture yourself joining the Gang. It’s hard not to smile, or at least raise an eyebrow.
But it’s more than just a whimsical image. It’s the inspiration for Canfield’s new book, a mostly factual, adventure-filled account of his personal spiritual journey and his subsequent awakening to his life’s purpose.
Partnering with fellow Gang members such as William Gladstone and Barbara Marx Hubbard, Canfield uses the book to set the stage for the ride of a lifetime — the one we’re all invited to participate in, the one that ushers in a new age of global consciousness and Universal Humanity.
Your new book, The Golden Motorcycle Gang, is set to release this month. What inspired you to write this book at this time?
When I was in graduate school at the University of Massachusetts, we had a guest lecturer who led us through a guided visualization to take us back to when we had chosen to become a teacher. Well, I went back to before I was born which kind of shocked me. And [in the visualization] there were a bunch of us, “souls” I guess, on summer vacation, floating through the universe and having a good time driving down the road on Harley Davidsons. (That’s where the book title comes from.) We looked down on earth and there was a war going on. It was 1944, which is the year I was born, and I just had this sense that I had to go down and help.
So I chose to be born and help out, and that’s been my life’s work.
Afterwards I thought, wow, I’m not just a school teacher; I’m a teacher at a higher level and I have a bigger destiny to fulfill. Then I kind of forgot about it until 10–15 years later when I started meeting people that I had this certain vibrational resonance with. I realized they were doing the same work I was doing; they were here with that same purpose. Maybe they’re part of that “Golden Motorcycle Gang” and we’re reconnecting, I thought.
I was having a beer one night with Bill Gladstone, a literary agent (and the co-author of the book) maybe 10 years ago, and I told that story to him. He said, “That should be a book.” And I said, “That’s ridiculous, no one wants to hear that,” but he kept hounding me. Finally I said, “Bill, I just don’t have time.” “What if I were to interview you two hours every day for a week or two,” he says, “and get all the stories. Then I’ll do the first draft and you can clean it up and make sure it’s accurate, fix the writing, or whatever.”
That’s how the book came into being.
The image of spiritual beings belonging to a motorcycle gang makes me grin a little, but also piques my curiosity. Guides, angels, ascended masters and others are more often portrayed as introspective beings wearing long white robes. Why do you think you’re getting visions of a “hog” Heaven?”
(laughing) I’ve never been drawn to a community where we all wear white and bow down to a certain guru. I’ve studied with many and I’ve sat at the feet of many, but there’s always been this sense of independence in me. When 15 guys on Harleys go by wearing their Hell’s Angels jackets, I admire that sense of “we are who we are and we don’t care what you think about it.” Not that these are guys I’d necessarily want to go have a beer with, because I don’t really know how safe I’d feel! But that’s the kind of feeling I had during that visualization. We were just a bunch of men and women flying through space on motorcycles. They’re golden because it’s spiritual.
In the book, you had more than one encounter with other people who had seen that same image of being in a gang of motorcyclists. Why do you think that same metaphor keeps showing up?
It’s hard to know what gets planted in consciousness. There’s a book by Dick Sutphen called, You Were Born Again to Be Together. In that book, he talks about groups of people who travel through time together like a family — it’s the idea that certain souls agree to go through eternity together and have different experiences. I think people in my “tribe” if you will, saw similar images. But I don’t know why.
It seems like there are many people who have had transformative spiritual experiences of one type or another, but are hesitant to talk about it. Have you noticed this?
I see it all the time. When I do my groups, we talk about these things and people come out of the woodwork. I see bank presidents, corporate leaders, military people and policemen who’ve had near death experiences, visitations from angels, intercessions from higher powers and awakenings. But they’re afraid to talk about it because they don’t want to be seen as “woo woo.”
But someone has to go first. A lot of people don’t know this side of me. I think I’m seen as kind of a famous person because of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Now they can see, here’s this normal guy who’s had these experiences. Maybe it will give them the courage to admit they have too.
You founded the Transformational Leadership Council; its members are listed in the book. What is the purpose of this group and how has it influenced change?
It was founded out of my need to have a support group of people doing similar work. There were different associations, but there was no group for people who own transformational training companies. So I threw a three-day event at my house and for three days we had a discussion about whether or not we wanted to create a support group with each other. Well, 32 people were invited; 30 came; 29 people said yes. Now we’re at about 125 members. It’s morphed into also including transformational coaching company owners, transformational authors that we all read, transformational media people, and so on. The purpose is simply to support each other in becoming more conscious and sharing our techniques with each other.
Did you feel like the 30 people in this original group were part of the Golden Motorcycle Gang?
I would say that 80 percent of them were. Yeah, I could feel that vibration.
How do we know if we belong to The Gang?
If you feel you have a calling, a destiny to contribute to the transformation of the world into a more cooperative, loving, positive, socially just, environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling world, you’re probably part of the Golden Motorcycle Gang. I might have been in one “local chapter,” but it’s clear to me that there’s more members than me and the little group I hang out with. I meet people who are locally well known but not on the national scene and I say, yeah, you’re part of the gang. I think it’s become a metaphor for anyone who wants to become a midwife to the evolution that wants to be occurring right now.
What does this evolution look like to you?
What I get is that there’s something bigger than us that’s evolving. We can tune into it through meditation, visualization, and so on. If you tune into it, you can cooperate with it and you do your part.
I think that so many people who are out there doing counseling, coaching, teaching meditation, doing yoga classes, NLP, EFT… are doing this work. Some people are very conscious about it because they’ve tapped into that calling, that awakening. Other people are more unconsciously doing it, but it’s a quickening I see all over the planet.
In the book, Barbara Marx Hubbard presents you with five questions we can all ask ourselves to determine whether or not we’re part of the Golden Motorcycle Gang. Can you share those with us?
Barbara had an experience [during a full-life regression] of going to the Elysian Fields where in Greek mythology the Gods and demigods hung out. There she found Aristotle and Plato and people like that (probably in white robes!) and was asked these five questions:
What do you know of the original plan?
Are you aware there’s some destiny unfolding that you’re a part of? A lot of people will tell you they are.
Do you have any memory of having volunteered to go to Earth at this particular time?
I volunteered to come down here. I think a lot of people did. I read Life Before Life by Jim B. Tucker where he did 2000 questionnaires and a bunch of interviews with people who had, under hypnosis, direct memory of choosing to be born, what gender to be, what race to be, what kind of parents they wanted to have — coming in with a purpose. They’d met with a board of advisors if you will — guides who helped them clarify that purpose so that when they came down, they could fulfill it.
The third question is, if so, do you remember your contract?
Do you remember what you agreed to do? For example, I agreed to help bring about a world that was more peaceful and harmonious and where people were living their highest vision rather than living their lowest vision out of fear.
What do you do best in the world that only you can do?
What we’re all being called to do right now is authentically be ourselves, not Tony Robbins because he made a lot of money the way he did it, or Barbara Marx Hubbard, or some guru. But to really ask, what is it that I do that’s unique to me?
My wife, for example, I call her a day maker — she makes people’s day. She leaves a message on your cell phone and it makes your day. She walks in to the salon to get her hair done and everybody walks out of there happier because she was there. That’s her purpose.
I have this belief that we’re all like cells in a body. Maybe you’re a brain cell and someone else is a pineal gland cell, and someone else is a liver cell, and someone else is a heart cell, and if we each fully be that, then all the body’s functions will work, and we’ll live. If you try to do something different, you end up being a cancer cell.
What are you supposed to do now, and what tools and resources do you need to do it?
We really have to tune in every day and say, what am I to do now? Today? This period of life? This month? This cycle? This season? And then go and find the tools, the resources and the people to be able to do that work. We should all be supporting each other in that.
Can you talk a little about the Birth 2012 event on Dec. 22 that you’re helping to organize: how you plan to participate, how the rest of us can also take part?
There are a lot of events being created and maybe I’ll be on a stage somewhere, but I will definitely be participating. Through the Transformational Leadership Council, we have a combined mailing list of over 12 million people and we’ll be promoting it, encouraging people to really participate in a day of celebration, a day of intention, a day of how do we want to create this next chapter of our life? That day will be an ongoing day of celebrations and concerts and TV shows and such. Conscious evolution means evolution by choice, not chance.
Do you want to learn more about the Golden Motorcycle Gang or Birth 2012? Check out www.GoldenMotorcycleGang.com and www.Birth2012.com.
Linda M. Potter is a popular speaker, a freelance writer and the author of If Only God Would Give Me a Sign! www.lindampotter.com or at lindampotter@comcast.net.
Wisdom of the Plant Devas by Thea Summer Deer
Wisdom of the Plant Devas
by Thea Summer Deer
Book Excerpt
Self-Heal
Prunella vulgaris
Unconditional Self-Love
The Story
While the name Prunella may elicit the image of a prissy princess or call to mind an Italian folk tale, Prunella vulgaris is a common perennial wildflower. The genus includes seven species that are all known by the common name self-heal. Self-heal has been used medicinally for centuries on practically every continent to treat just about every ailment. Perhaps it is Prunella’s little purple flowers that cause its association with little plums and prunes. The flowers bloom constantly from May to September.
Self-heal is a medicinal plant, or weed as some consider it, which is incredibly abundant, available, and found practically all over the world. It has a long history of folk use, especially in the treatment of wounds. Prior to World War II it was used to staunch bleeding and treat heart disease. Considered one of the fairy herbs in rural Ireland, perhaps because of its wand of delicate purple flowers and ability to heal, it inspired the young English artist Cicely Mary Barker. Cicely Mary Barker’s art elicited a sense of freedom of spirit that charmed a war-weary world in the early twentieth century with a vision of innocence and hope.
The herbal actions of self-heal are so many that it is usually considered to be an herbal panacea. Self-heal is used as an antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant. In addition, self-heal also exhibits the following herbal actions: alterative, antimutagenic, antispasmodic, astringent, carminative, diuretic, febrifuge, hypotensive, immunostimulant, stomachic, styptic, vermifuge, vulnerary, and tonic. It is used to gradually restore health, promote wound healing, stop internal hemorrhaging by contracting blood vessels, reduce fever, cause tissue to contract, relieve symptoms of indigestion such as hyperacidity and gas, strengthen and tone the stomach, treat edema, induce urination, lower blood pressure, and even expel intestinal worms.
Fresh-picked self-heal is used as a fresh herb poultice applied directly to a wound. Although the most common use is topically to treat sores, burns, and bruises, it is also used internally to relieve hemorrhaging, fevers, diarrhea, and swollen glands. In Chinese medicine self-heal is classified as cooling to the liver and used to treat liver and gallbladder inflammation and stagnation. There is also evidence to support the traditional use of self-heal in the treatment of some forms of cancer as well as type 2 diabetes. Its antiviral actions seem to slow cell division, making it a potential aid in the treatment of HIV and herpes simplex virus.
The Divination
Self-heal wants us to heal and has brought herself into close proximity, and relationship, with humans for this reason. She cools our livers, heals our anger, and teaches us how to heal and love ourselves unconditionally. Love is the greatest healer, and this plant loves us so much that she just keeps showing up—practically everywhere! Sometimes, when a person has been badly damaged or wounded through neglect or violence, we have to love them until they are able to love themselves. This is what the devas of the medicine plants are doing—loving us until we learn how to love ourselves. Take a moment to look around. Where is this plant growing near you? How will you honor her medicines? There is no imbalance that she cannot restore. You have only to open your heart and receive.
“Love thy neighbor as thyself,” implies that one must start by learning to love one’s self. If we look around at our neighbors in the world today we can see that we have not done so well with this lesson. Why is it so difficult to truly love our Self? Perhaps it is because of what we were taught about being born. Were we born in blessing, or born in sin? How were we raised? Were we loved and supported and encouraged to carry our gifts or told that we were bad and punished?
When we love ourselves enough to do the inner work of bringing back the lost soul pieces that keep us from being fully present, and we integrate those pieces into our third dimensional physical form, then we free ourselves, and others, to experience new levels of consciousness. We become present in love.
The Deva Speaks
What is this that you call love and to which you aspire with no conditions? The human has only ever known the emotion of love upon which there has always been conditions. Your condition for love is based on the elements for survival. The elements have always been here to serve your evolution, and it is their love alone that is unconditional on this plane.
It is a law in your dimension that there will always be this struggle toward the light of love: a struggle that will continue for as long as you take form in a dimension of duality and separation. For your notion of an unconditional love is actually a field of love emanating from a central sun that you have already begun to perceive. When the need to survive is no longer upon you then you will enter this vibrational field of love. No conditions as you presently know them exist in this field, for love is what is. It is in this field that I have grown my medicines for you, and through this field that we will walk together as I show you the way home.
Deva Premal & Miten: Music in the Key of Love
Deva Premal & Miten: Music in the Key of Love
Mantra Singers Launch US Tour & New Album “PASSWORD”
By Lisa T. Greene
The age of yoga is upon us. With yoga studios opening in every town across the United States, millions of people are enjoying yoga’s stress-reducing and life-enhancing benefits.
In the world of music, many top recording artists are yoga aficionados, including Alanis Morissette, Nora Jones, Sting and Sarah McClachlan, who recently appeared on the cover of Yoga Journal. However it is yoga-based mantra chanting that is changing the way people listen to — and feel — the yogic effects of music.
Deva Premal & Miten have been a central part of the chant-based culture shift. For the past 21 years the two have been merging the ancient mantras with new rhythms and musical beats, creating a sound that is deeply rooted in tradition, but appeals to a modern audience. Deva and Miten’s fans include Anthony Robbins, Eckhart Tolle, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Cher, who featured one of Deva’s most popular chants, the Gayatri Mantra, on her Farewell Concert Tour. Deva and Miten have a new album coming out in October 2011 called PASSWORD since “mantras are passwords that transform the mundane into the sacred”.
“Mantras and Rock n’ Roll – The Mystical and the Mythic”
Miten, a child of the 1960s, grew up in the countercultural environment of England, and recalls that “at that time, England was alive with rock ‘n’ roll music and the sound of The Beatles. Everywhere you went it was on the street. It was a time of innocence, a time when you could sense the possibility that life has no boundaries.” With The Beatles and other cultural icons, such as Allen Ginsberg, discovering the mystical traditions of India, Tibet and Nepal in the late 1960s, new sounds and contemplative practices were being introduced into the Western arts and culture scene.
Miten established a successful career in the 1970s as a singer/songwriter, touring with such stars as Fleetwood Mac, Lou Reed and Ry Cooder. During this time he released two well-received albums, one produced by The Kinks, and another by noted Los Angeles producer Bones Howe for Ariola Records. But while this time was thrilling, the rock and roll lifestyle left him unfulfilled: ”I found myself in my 30′s asking questions — I was looking for something more substantial in my life than the usual diet of sex, drugs and rock and roll.”
In his search for answers, Miten left the world of rock behind – even selling his beloved guitars – and entered into a new life of possibilities as a member of a spiritual community, where he discovered an ancient, yet new , approach to music:
“It was an amazing revelation. I wasn’t prepared for the healing power of the music that was happening and it turned my head to what real sacred music was – even though it was western in style, it still had the most uplifting and spiritual nature, especially the ‘Music Groups’ and the Sufi dances. All this music, along with a life of communal integration, healed me from whatever wounds I’d been carrying around from my former life in music, and life in general.”
By 1990, when Miten met Deva Premal, he was leading music groups for thousands of people at the Osho Ashram in Poona, India. Despite difference in age and life history, Deva recalls that, “Although I was 20 years old and he was 42, our hearts immediately connected. I felt good whenever we were together. We laughed a lot… and still do.”
For the past six years, Deva and Miten have had the pleasure of collaborating with Manose, the internationally renowned bansuri (bamboo flute) maestro and one Nepal’s top recording artists. The founder of the rock group AD1974, Manose is part of the world music movement, merging genres, traditions and sounds, while at the same time, introducing traditional Nepalese music to new audiences. For Deva and Miten, working with Manose has been a seamless process: “Manose has a great grasp of Western music,” Miten shares. “When we first started working together, he walked into the studio and I had the track already going. He just picked up the flute and rolled with it.” Manose danced with Deva and Miten’s voices and energy and now they consider him part of their “love bubble.”
”PASSWORD, Deva Premal & Miten’s new album, unlocks our inner technology”
Today, chant and popular culture are joining together more and more, as seen in the growing attendance at music and yoga festivals across the country. In June of 2008, the music industry was star-struck to watch the recording by a group of German monks singing Gregorian chants sky rocket to top the iTunes and Billboard charts.
Deva and Miten love that the music they have been quietly creating for 21 years is reaching wider and wider audiences. They anticipate their new album, Password, will continue to unlock the secret of mantras for an entirely new generation, eager to engage with their ‘inner’ technologies. The new album expands on the chant tradition that couples Miten’s lush arrangements by a group of young jazz artists, with Deva’s rich vocal tones. The jazz players bring a fresh sensibility and interpretation to Deva & Miten’s signature sound.
One thing is certain, Deva Premal & Miten are never ones to sit back on their meditation pillows or rest of their laurels – their new album and 2011 US Tour will continue to stretch the boundaries of the old and the new, the traditional and the innovative – a testament to their artistry and their commitment to the endless beauty of the mantra.
For more information visit www.DevaPremalMiten.com
Click here for a sneak peek at the iTunes release of “Password.”
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