TRUTHS.... ....and the human condition.

"As mature individuals, we discover that life is less about answers and more about

forming better questions."

-Ernie Vecchio-

Questions Is there an organizing intelligence that oversees our life?

Are we connected to it?

Are we more than our story?

Is there a valid reason for human suffering?

Are there reasons to be optimistic?

Is love and freedom truly available to everyone?

Does one's philosophy of life affect their health?

*Just about everyone wonders now and then if there is some kind of intelligence organizing the apparently random and creative events in their personal life and the universe. Are those events haphazard . . . or is some kind of “mind” at work in the background?

*I have often wondered about the mysterious power that seems to appear throughout life, especially in moments of crisis. What is this power that not only produces the most amazing and helpful experiences but is also behind our ongoing difficulties and conflicts, our personal problems, and our ability to adapt?

*Science and spiritual traditions both contribute answers. Yet in the twenty-first century, we are far from a consensus about what or who we are and what, if anything, arranges or “co-creates” our fate.

Organizing Intelligence

Depth psychologists speak of a “collective unconscious,” the “transpersonal Self,” or some type of transcendent or “unitive” consciousness.” Religions, of course, speak of the design, powers, and wisdom of the universe in terms of God.

I call this organizing principle 'the soul' collective and personal. An aspect of the self that operates both in your personal live and in the universe.

The soul is both inside of you and, at the same time, apparently connected to everything you notice. The soul animates your body, while the ego is provoked into action by the human spirit.

Studying and experiencing these aspects of the self provides new and useful ways to relate to one another and most importantly - to yourself.

Connected • Your presence appears around you and may

be obvious to others, but it may well be distant from your consciousness.

• Presence is at the third level of awareness. It's not your identity, nor the signals that you emit but do not identify with. Instead, soul and presence are in the background of all of your signals.

• Though everyone gets dressed up in this reality, your best presence – really, your most amazing self – is the soul's presence.

• It is the subtlest and yet the most powerful force or energy that you possess.

• If you don’t know your soul's presence, you may be confused about why people act toward you the way they do. Some will love you, others may find you irritating.

• The more you know about your own presence, the less confusing or irritating you will be. Why? Because the more you live your presence congruently, the less it has to orchestrate your life - to 'see' what you need to see.

• This is the 'reason' things happen for! Sound familiar?

• Presence means to pre-sense. Pre means “before” and sense means “feeling” or “perceiving” something. A presence is something you can almost feel before you can describe it as a feeling.

• Your soul is a pre-sense. You need to know this pre-sense of who you are in order to be yourself, in order to facilitate your inner world and outer relationships, and to improve the world.

Are we more than our story?

Once upon a time...in a time outside of time...you were full of

hope for a better world. A place where wishes and dreams came true. Everyone had special talents and abilities that set

them apart from the other. The only problem is hope's opposite also existed during this time, and it carried with it

despair. There is a curse: if despair can capture your attention long enough, you will forget who and what you are.

You will suffer from spiritual amnesia and be trapped in a finite place forever, never knowing the eternal hope of

possibility. There is only one way to break the curse, you must remember. This IS your story and it is not a fairy tale. It

happened. Do you want to wake up?

Turns out our personal story is driven by the human spirit, which is around and through all that is. We know it as our

feelings.

If our spirit is broken early we do not trust feeling and instead form an emotion to remember the pain.

We forget that feelings are more valid than thoughts and

emotions, and lose our connection to the heart's intelligence.

We become angry and confused about our predicament

but do not know why.

Essentially, we've lost the capacity to make the distinction between real and imagined fear.

In this moment, the ego becomes omnipotent and in

charge. Some submit for life, some fight it in vain, others challenge its authority.

In the end, we must learn an ethical (vs. moral) way to

suffer with our situation to awaken.

The truth about suffering is stored in the human psyche.

Fear and judgment cause us to introvert this

knowing to self-protect.

This introversion paired with the human spirit forms the emotional-self.

Unconscious, the ego will re-enact or emote its

initial suffering.

Paining over the 'why' of our situation and questioning the relationship between ego and spirit, many of us passively submit.

If we are awake, the sequence of our development is to permit the ego's suffering, honor the spirit's provocation, and discover the

soul's intent to connect us to our hearts.

Understanding WHY we are afraid of being afraid IS our spiritual journey.

Most of us never commit to resolving the WHY of our lives.

Human Suffering

The soul suspends time and events long enough for us to have an awakening. Meanwhile, the ego just wants the pain to stop.

The ego's power comes from its manipulation of 'suspended time' or

longing, and we believe this cannot be altered.

The heart is certain of two things: (1) life is full of possibilities, and (2) the human spirit is free and joyful.

Our heart's conviction is to be true to itself while the ego's conviction

is for us to serve it.

Optimism?

Love and Freedom

Although the sacred relationship between ego and soul is hidden in the beginning; it is known in the heart and can be

remembered.

The soul's intent is to get us through the maze of our ego judgments, help us recognize what we need to see, give us the

compassion to tolerate the experience, and make us a witness of our own transformation.

Philosophy and Health

It is ironic that the ego creates the angst that makes us question our will to BE but without this angst we would not move

spiritually.