Spirituality

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

Law of Supply and Demand – Marlene Buffa

Law of Supply and Demand

By Marlene Buffa
Water filter

I need the expensive, big filter on my Reverse Osmosis water system in my kitchen.  I replaced all the other filters, and in the process my handyman noticed the big filter needed replacing as well and – oops! – the O-ring broke.  I put the new filter on my to-do list, but didn’t buy one yet.  Consequently, the water is still being filtered, but because of the vacuum created by the missing O-ring, it dispenses slowly and only a little bit at a time.

And then, I got to thinking….

Aside from the mechanical impairment, there is a deeper interpretation of this whole water issue.  Is it the supply?  No, I have an unlimited supply of water from the City.  Is it the demand?  No, I know that when I turn the faucet on, I get water.  It’s the FLOW!  Something is broken that impedes the flow of my good to me.  The good is always there, in total abundance.  I ask for what I want, when I want it, and it gets delivered.  However, the amount of my good flowing to me remains restricted by something that can be fixed.  If only all our spiritual needs could be answered with an obvious, “This is broken. Fix this and it will work.”

The magic formula

The world breathed a sigh of relief when Einstein published his Theory of Relativity.  With the seemingly simple E = MC2, we thought we got a handle on the universe.  Albert discovered it, defined it, and now we can all relax, right?  Great – the cosmos is now figured out – but what about you?

The 1970s saw the emerging youth free to discover who they were, experimenting with all sorts of stimuli and rebelling against societal norms.  They didn’t have it figured out – they were simply trying to find answers.  Personal answers.

In a way, the Spiritual explosion of the 21st century operates similarly.  This time, we’ve learned from the efforts of those before us, and actually seek and sometimes find answers within ourselves instead of from somewhere or someone else.  And try as we might, the formula is – there is no formula!  Life gives you what you ask for in the most perfect cloak of lessons and movement.

Source and Request

As humans, we’re quick to blame the supply – “There isn’t enough for me!”  If that doesn’t work, we try the non-productive, plaintive blame-game, which of course, ultimately perpetuates our situation.  Subconsciously, we know life is abundant and there is always enough.  The supply is not the problem.  Then, it dawns on us to actually ask for what we want!  Aha!

Spiritual teachers guide us to be specific in what we want, or we’ll get the Soup du Jour from the Universe.  We then get really good at identifying and asking the Universe for our needs and desires to be met.  We make lists of what we want with tangible or esoteric qualities, waxing specific about all the details of who, what, when, where, why and how we expect our delivery.  This leaves the Universe a pinhole of opportunity to dispense our good if it must meet all these conditions to please us.  In other words – stop the noise!

Conversely, we’re also guided to be general in the expression of our desires and let Spirit figure it out for us.  Huh?  Ok, I get that I can tell the Universe I need $1,378.32 by the end of the month.  Does God care about the amount?  The Infinite created the Grand Canyon and Angel Falls for goodness sakes – sure a measly amount of money is easy to manifest in comparison!  What gives?

What our spiritual teachers tell us is true on both paradigms.  We DO need to ask for what we want, and be specific in our request, and we need our request to be fillable within the parameters of earthly possibility!  While I’ve always joked I wanted a million dollars in cash to fall from the sky in my back yard.  That may be possible, but not likely.  What if it came to me in a different, more perfect way?  Give up the reporter requirements (who, what, when, etc.) and just ask for what you want.

Basically, we want our needs and desires to be met in life.  We notice the dribbles of good coming from the faucet of our supply.  Our gratitude in receiving an unlimited, albeit restricted flow of what we want, identifies our satisfaction and provides us with the opportunity to more clearly define our desires.  We alone define the magic formula for us.  We came to the planet with a plan, a goal, and lessons to learn.  No one else can determine your formula for you.  What we really want is to live an abundant life filled with happiness and completion in the learning experience.  Let the Infinite provide the game board.  You keep rolling the dice!

Marlene Buffa

Taking a quiet sideways glance at life, Marlene offers insight through her words from experiences.  . A student of new-thought teachings, Marlene finds practical spirituality around every corner and seeks wisdom through observation of life’s inter-relationships. Sometimes playful, sometimes poignant, always thought-provoking, her writing inspires readers in meaningful ways.
www.wordsofmind.com.

A Portrait of Soul: transformational poetry

Book Excerpt

 

by Byron Lindley

Book Cover

What Can I Give?

Weaving words together

like an artist blends color

on canvas with paint

I wish that I

could create

something so beautiful

as a monsoon sky

is to the mind

stay awake for a moment

listen inside

pretend for an instant

that all faculties of sense

are aligned with the heart’s

magical capacity

for intimate devotion

devoted completely

to something so sublime

as indescribable

indecipherable

as infinite divine

I lay down my life

in words on these pages

you see

this blessed medium

of art from my heart

is all I can find

all I have to give

because I have received

something so glorious

magnificent as

a captivating sunrise

inside

that blows the limits of mind

past the furthest reaches

of a poverty intellect

destined to transcend

release the boundaries

my colors spill over

melt all together

blend into one

You are my love

and I’ll give it all away

to become

let myself unravel

long for my rope

to come undone

absorb my spark

assimilate

into the splendor

limitless infinity

burning brilliance

of poetic reality

in Your ineffable sun.

About the author:

Byron Lindley is a writer and poet:

A spiritual awakening in 2003 brought about an intense opening and purification of the soul. Since that time, a continuous flow of sacred energy has manifested primarily as sublimely inspired poetry. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Available at: www.byronlindley.com

Philippo Franchini – The Musical Alchemist

Philippo Franchini

The Musical Alchemist

Blog: Between the Notes

http://philippomusic.ning.com/

I believe that every major shift in social consciousness has been accompanied by a change in music — and this is happening again now! Music from all parts of the world has been blending together powerfully for over two decades. On any radio dial or online music source, one can hear African, South American, Asian, Arabic, Native American music, and more. Our current pop music is being infused with many elements borrowed from a variety of other cultures. And now that social media has exploded all over the globe, our choices — along with our newfound connection to each other — will allow for a more profound global impact.

One of the new currents of music sweeping the globe is a yogic, meditative blend called “Kirtan.” Kirtan, originally from India, utilizes Sanskrit mantras and chants to heighten awareness and open the mind to meditative states, just as shamanic rituals from many ancient cultures do. And with these kind of creative rebirths, I see music reclaiming its original place not only as entertainment, but as a transformative and healing force that can help to balance us, nourish our spirits and communities, and serve as a unique doorway into sublime realms!

We are all vibrational beings, and we live in a vibrational Universe (or Uni-verse, if you will). We are all literally “composed” of multidimensional vibratory patterns, meaning our breathing, circulation, brainwaves and internal organs all have rhythms, pulses, and tones! Our thoughts and emotions can also be understood as frequencies. And the more self-aware we become, the more we have the ability to regulate and tune our individual frequencies to enjoy the kinds of experiences we choose — and we can do this by using sonic self-attunement and choosing music that nurtures and supports our most-essential vibrational make up. I like to call this process “Musical Alchemy.”

Please join me, Philippo, the Musical Alchemist, once a month, for the lighter side of enlightenment as we romp around the mystical space I’ve come to call “Between the Notes.” I am a composer, musician, and yogi, which means I study, investigate, and apply the natural laws of vibration to integrate and transform discordant, heavy vibrations into more harmonious and joyful ones.

I will be introducing you to some of the amazing properties of sound and cosmic vibration, including the ancient wisdom of Nada Yoga, as well as some intriguing, recent scientific research. Did you know that we can actually use music and sound every day to change our moods, give us energy, calm us down, or tune out things we don’t like? In this blog and the accompanying videos, I’ll explain how to do this more creatively and with a better understanding of the natural laws involved.

This will be our own mystical journey, so please tune in every month here on The Edge for “Between the Notes.”

Copyright © 2011 Philippo Franchini. All Rights Reserved.

A Christmas Message – by Paramahansa Yogananda

A Christmas Message
Let Us Rejoice
By Paramahansa Yogananda

The following excerpt is from The Second Coming of Christ by Paramahansa Yogananda

(Copyright (c) 2004, Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles. Reprinted with permission.)

Let us make this Christmas a real celebration of the birth of the holy child by striving to realize the consciousness which he attained.

Let us make this celebration an uplifting and spiritual experience.

Let us not for a moment forget the one whose birthday is being commemorated while in our zeal we go about the joyful and exciting preparation for the happy festivities.

Let us use this occasion as a new impetus to inspirit us on the Christ-path of truth and love.

Let us use it as an opportunity to express the Universal Christ-love for all people and all creatures-exalted and lowly, near and far, large and small, known and unknown.

While we are remembering the physical birth of the baby Christ Jesus, let us realize his eternal loving presence in omnipresent Christ Consciousness, which is always with us no matter where we are or what we are doing.

Let us resolve anew to discipline ourselves-to control our bodies, our minds, and our emotions-and to strive ever toward Christ understanding.

Let us establish the Prince of Peace consciousness as our inner ruler, that we may meet our crosses and tests of life with power, victory, and tranquility.

Let us meditate until we perceive the Infinite Christ reigning in our own hearts.

Let us learn to love those who love us not; and to forgive those who do ill against us.

Let us break all our mental boundaries of color, creed, and nationality, and receive all-even our inanimate and animal brothers-in the endless, all-embracing arms of our Christ Consciousness. This will be a true and fitting celebration of the coming of Jesus Christ to this earth.

Let us rejoice and give thanks for this wonderful gift of light and love from the Great Giver.

Peace. Joy. Peace.

Awakening the Planetary Mind by Barbara Hand Clow

barbara hand clow book cover

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?

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.

Portrait of Soul- Transformational Poetry

Book Excerpt

by Byron Lindley

Book Cover

What Can I Give?

Weaving words together

like an artist blends color

on canvas with paint

I wish that I

could create

something so beautiful

as a monsoon sky

is to the mind

stay awake for a moment

listen inside

pretend for an instant

that all faculties of sense

are aligned with the heart’s

magical capacity

for intimate devotion

devoted completely

to something so sublime

as indescribable

indecipherable

as infinite divine

I lay down my life

in words on these pages

you see

this blessed medium

of art from my heart

is all I can find

all I have to give

because I have received

something so glorious

magnificent as

a captivating sunrise

inside

that blows the limits of mind

past the furthest reaches

of a poverty intellect

destined to transcend

release the boundaries

my colors spill over

melt all together

blend into one

You are my love

and I’ll give it all away

to become

let myself unravel

long for my rope

to come undone

absorb my spark

assimilate

into the splendor

limitless infinity

burning brilliance

of poetic reality

in Your ineffable sun.

About the author:

Byron Lindley is a writer and poet.  A spiritual awakening in 2003 brought about an intense opening and purification of the soul.  Since that time, a continuous flow of sacred energy has manifested primarily as sublimely inspired poetry.  He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Available at:  www.byronlindley.com

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.

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