We are a society fascinated with violence and our own destruction. No where is this more evident than in popular media. It is considered quite inappropriate to display people engaging in sexual activity, the very act which creates life, but seemingly ok to show an orgy of corruption, murder and judgement. I’ve always wondered why there is such an air of suspicion whenever I go about my business at work or shopping or wherever. The reason is clear, what we occupy our consciousness with is what we fill our lives with.

Could it be that we just love the drama too much? It would seem so.. no newspaper would make money if they published an edition of only positive stories. You know, for such a long time I placed the blame squarely at the feet of popular media for misleading the public (which they blatantly do I might add) but the reality is that we give them that power. A conscious world society (which we are not) would remove the puppet masters currently controlling the media movement. Check out three news stations one evening, say for eg. CNN, BBC and your local one and you’ll see they all run just about the same stories over and over again. Could anything be more boring?

Truth is a funny thing because it is heavily subjected to personal experience and my own personal experience has taught me that everything that somebody else conveys to you must be taken with a grain of salt, everything! What another finds ugly you may find beautiful, what another finds disturbing you may find enlightening. The media never shows the full story because it cannot. The majority of stations, publications and channels are owned by a few powerful men and a few powerful men cannot represent the perspective of 6 billion.

At this time I am only aware of my own consciousness and how I interpret the world. I believe there are those who can interpret the world through the eyes of others, merge consciousnesses and experience whole new ways of perception.. but for now I accept that this perception journey continues in solitude. The most important advice you could ever give yourself is to question everything.. never ever take as fact what others have relayed to you, not the media, not even your parents. You have the right to interpret events the way you wish to.

I find the differences between the masculine and feminine really fascinating. I suspect that many would think only of the superficial differences: hair, hips, genitals, etc. But my interest lies in the entire set up as human beings.. that is, the mind body spirit connection.  Understanding these differences will better help us understand ourselves and how we go about creating (or destroying) our lives on this planet.

Let me list some notable differences between the sexes:

Male:

• Strength
• Progress
• Power
• Courage

Female:

• Acceptance
• Mystery
• Creativity
• Sustenance
• Healing

These are of course only a few which are observed here from my point of view, but they will serve to illustrate my point. Now let’s use these to bring up some of the major issues which affect us today. Here are the results of the imbalance in modern society we have created due to the male dominated philosophy:

• Destruction of the ozone layer
• Massacre of acres of trees (which are connected to our lungs) for the production of food with high levels of disease;
• Suppression of the feminine (business, politics, sexuality, etc)
• The rise in mental illnesses globally
• Overpopulation

The list goes on but the message is clear: these are the results of a society heavily biased towards progress and power. The entire issue always reverts back to levels of consciousness.

Take for example the suppression of feminine sexuality. Now I don’t know about you but I love sex.. and while I cannot speak on behalf of all beings everywhere I’m sure that all if not the majority (both male and female) feel the same way (A bad experience does not mean the mechanism is broken but rather used incorrectly). It’s simply a biological imperative.. a spiritual one too when you have deeper understanding.

So while you can stimulate yourself in solitude the experience is not the same as with another. Homosexuality aside, how ludicrous is it then for men to denigrate feminine sexuality when it clearly affects masculine sexuality as a result?! As you treat others so are you treated. Women with robust sexuality and prostitutes are frowned upon yet for them to exist the other side of the equation needs to exist too: Men with robust sexual appetites. I smell hypocrisy, I don’t know about you?

Now I want to make one thing very clear here. I am not pro-feminist. I am simply fed up with a world which seeks power over others. What I definitely am is pro partnership! We do not exist without each other and despite what popular religion teaches, power over others will never be a solution. Power with on the other hand is the only way.

In Terrence McKenna’s excellent book Food of the Gods and the Conversation with God series by Neale Donald Walsch there is some intriguing discussion on pre male dominated history which was female dominated. Adapting this quote from the humble bishop Desmond Tutu I’d like to say that we cannot allow the gravy train to stop so that men can get off it and women on.. rather let’s stop it so that everybody can get on.

Things have certainly progressed a long way from a couple of hundred years ago and so, my words are nothing new.. but certainly valid: It’s time we see a return of the Goddess.

• Food of the Gods (Terence McKenna) – A journey through history and consciousness and the rise of the male dominator culture from that of the feminine goddess. The main underlying theme is that of hallucinogenic plants and their role in indigneous cultures and contrasting western counterparts.. all (even though we may deny it) seeking a return to the divine.
• Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold) – I am only about a quarter of the way through this one (inevitably with me you’ll find a stack of books lying around just waiting to be finished ). Lucid dreaming is the practise of becoming aware in the dream state and consciously being able to direct the dream world. Your dreams are powerful messages from higher intelligence.. although being mostly obscure and abstract they are difficult to interpret.
• The Ethical Slut – A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships and Other Adventures (Dossie Easton, Janet W. Hardy) – This book will really challenge your beliefs on the family unit and the structure of sexual relationships. A little bit of research on the subject reveals the emergence of the nuclear family (2 parents and x number of children) as only a recent development in human history as opposed to the extended family. Polyamorists often have several sexual partners at the same time. This is nothing new in a world of prostitution, mistresses and affairs. The fundamental difference is knowledge of this fact by all involved and a foundation of truthful communication.
• The Ra Material – A Humble Messenger of the Law of One (Ra, James McCarty, Don Elkins and Carla Rueckert) – Not for the overtly religious or narrow minded. This material is very heavy reading. You can read the entire transcript online if you prefer. Topics are diverse and complex but utterly fascinating.. ranging from Healing to Duality Illusions to Sexual Energy Transfers and ultimately the Evolution of Consciousness. This is a must read for those who deeply seek that eternal question: “who are we and where did we come from?”.

Other reads of particular interest I won’t elaborate on include: The Doors of Perception (Aldous Huxley), Plant Spirit Medicine (Eliot Cowan), The Complete Works of Lao Tzu, The People of the Secret (Ernest Scott), Conversations with God series by Neale Donald Walsch and lastly but not leastly but perhaps irrelevantly to this blog, The Self Coached Climber – The Guide to Movement, Training, Performance (Dan Hague, Douglas Hunter)

Happy reading and here’s to a conscious 2010!

All of life is the co-existence of opposites. Can you know what up is without down? Can you know the truth without first experiencing the lies? ..and can you experience love without first experiencing it’s polar opposite, fear. This is why we are here, this is why the world is in the state it’s in. Can you make things right until you know what’s wrong with them?

This is a fundamental concept to ponder over in the universe of duality. We are quick to pass judgements on others for the ‘wrongs’ they do in their lives. But let’s be honest, who authors the book of right and wrong? It would be easy to point the finger over to religion for this answer but, religions comes and goes, just as all things in the physical realms. Do we follow the Bible or the Qur’an, the Baghavad Gita or the Tao Te Ching? What is right to one person, culture, religion or belief system is more often than not wrong to another. If you can’t find an opposing belief all you need is a little knowledge of history and location.

I find it rather interesting how we choose to limit our thinking by rejecting some aspects of life and making ‘certain’ only their opposites. When you start to accept that infinity is the ultimate possibility you can start to live within the paradox and start to understand some of the greater spritual truths that exist:  the outer world is a reflection of the inner;  the search for outer knowledge eventually reveals that it is ALL located inside; physical reality is but one reality created from non physical reality; all beings everywhere are connected in some way and duality or separation from each other is an illusion.

These are not easy truths to discover (or rather remember) because of that very paradox. If you live your life depending solely on your physical senses: sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch you miss out on the magic of the non-physical ones: intuition, clairvoyance, clairaudience, lucid dreaming and others I have yet to understand and experience. From the little of these I have experienced, the possibilities of perception are magnified immensely!

God is a process, all of life is a process, you are a process. To make a giant leap in that process is to start living within the paradox today. Start accepting all of life perfect as it is.. understanding that, everything has a purpose and a reason, everything! Do not judge what you consider ‘wrong’.. rather use it as a tool in understanding its polar opposite. Love in all it’s glory cannot be experienced without the murderers, rapists, liars, thieves, unfaithful, judger’s, haters, etc etc. You and I have been in that ever expansive list at one time or another. Think about it!

Which is it.. the unrelenting pursuit of Knowledge or of Wealth that drives us? In many respects there seems to be a link. Generally speaking, the more knowledge you have of a subject the more ‘in demand’ you are for that particular skill and correspondingly the higher the potential to gain wealth from it. Isn’t this why we put our children through school and college/university? Isn’t this why we put even ourselves through these institutions (often for the 2nd or 3rd time) just so that we can get ahead?

Well I’m here to tell a converse story. The intelligent woman doesn’t spend her life acquiring information, she spends it recognising that it’s already there! All of it! Yes.. all knowledge is available to all of us, not only the privileged few. The catch is that it requires awareness, and let me state emphatically that the majority of the human race is unaware. Spending all your time in front of a talking box (TV) is not awareness, it is a distraction.. pure and simple. Awareness is heightened with that simple tool silence. Silence can be experienced in a number of ways, primarily meditation.. but you do not need to be some sort of spiritual guru to experience it, you simply need to be still.

Those who have the guts to sit down in silence and hear their own thoughts will be quite surprised at some of the garbage which has been floating around up there (if you believe the mind is in the head of course). With practise, this discipline (like any other in life) produces some interesting results. Once stresses and thoughts have subsided, something starts to happen.. pure conciousness becomes the focus and in this point of pure consciousness you can place any question about any subject, and before your very eyes.. or shall we say to your very self will the answers be presented. Of course, don’t take my word for it.. be as critical as you want but remember you can never have an accurate perception of an event if you never try it, no matter what anybody tells you about it. And don’t tell me either that it takes somebody a week to learn the guitar or learn a software package.. because it doesn’t.. I know!

Interestingly, most world religions in their purer form have taught of this little life secret through the ages. Psalm 46:10 in the Bible notes, “Be still and know that I am God”. Mark 1:35 ; Mark 6:45-46 and Luke 4:42 also echo the need Jesus had for silence.  At this point I would like to point out that I advocate no religion in particular but instead all of them, yet my knowledge of them is limited so I welcome any additions to this list or corrections to the texts themselves. Ancient Hindu texts known as sutras talk of Dhyana and Pratyahara which mean meditation and withdrawal(of the senses) respectively.

My own personal experimentations on this matter reveal much creativity and answers when silence is experienced. [TBC]

Here is an interesting fact: The space between elements of an atom are proportionally similar to the spaces between objects in our solar system such as our planets. Do a search on google and you will find plenty of articles on this.

Now consider this: a nucleus and proton are individualised portions of an atom and an atom is an individualised portion of matter.. the same stuff you and I are made of. Without going into all the probably more technical levels in between we can also say that a heart is an individualised portion of many atoms and then on to the human being as an individualised portion of many organs.. do you see where I’m going here? Do you understand the pattern?

My own personal revelations indicate the life exists infinitely in all directions. Stop to think about this theory for a minute. Science continues to back up this assertion as we progress in our understandings of the physical universe. Scientists continue to measure smaller and smaller elements of life and conversely the largest ones too. Of course if you recognise the space phenomenon we talked about earlier you will understand then the scope for discovery is infinite, since all of life is actually 99.9% empty space!!

The human mind however likes to place limits on things.. “I am only capable of doing so and so” or “only running at such a speed” or “only achieving certain goals”.. but time and again history has been beaten by better goals, faster speeds and bigger so and so’s! ..repeatedly. This is fact. And thus we come to the crux of this article.

Duality Consciousness is the definition of separation or the individualised portions of the whole. By nature (or human nature in any case) it seeks to create right and wrong, good and bad, me and you.. and therefore judgement.
Unity Consciousness is simply a shift in perspective which recognises the bigger picture.. that is, we are all smaller elements of a unified being. World without end.

This then if the very definition of God! God is the alpha and omega, He/She/It is the all and everything conceivable and beyond. God can be called by any name, The Source, The Divine or Satan for that matter.. because words are limitation to her. She created words (words which by the way have changed over the centuries, millenia and infiniti) and She also created the mind, therefore She cannot exist in the mind alone. God cannot be contained! The Source cannot be restricted to one religion because it exists in all religions. Satan is God because he is found in both in the Diabolical and the Divine. Anything other than this truth reduces God to something smaller than infinity and propogates duality consciousness.

This is not an easy truth to accept, for religion will have you believe that some are better than others and that these some are given salvation over the others. Every path is acceptable to God because every path is in fact.. God. The fundamental difference is that some paths lead quicker to happiness and others quicker to suffering. As explained in my previous article on circulating value all things depend on all other things.. it is only a matter of awareness which recognises this. This kind of awareness will help you realise that a tree is your equal because it produces the oxygen you need and you produce the carbon dioxide it needs. With awareness in mind you could view a tree as a part of your cosmic lung. There is much more I have to say on this topic and it really is possibly the most interesting topic to discuss (and debate) but I’ll end this article with a thought: Unity or Duality Consciousness? It’s time to choose!

Consensus thinking in the matters of finance would have you believe that you need to hold on tightly to the money you earn. This kind of thinking is in direct opposition to the way in which the universe works. Let’s examine two fundamental propertiesof the universe to understand why..

1. Movement

Movement is an overwhelming necessity in our cosmos. Nothing develops and succeeds without it. The foetus needs to grow, water needs to evaporate, food needs to be absorbed and money needs to circulate.

What is money anyway? A store for value.. a piece of paper which is inherently worthless. Unless I do some action which fulfills a need, that piece of paper will remain worthless. So what we’re really circulating then is value. The more needs you fulfill the more value you create in your life.. and when you circulate that value you are aligning yourself closer to the laws of this universe.

Money sitting in a bank for a lengthy period of time is not contributing to the overall wellbeing of creation. This is of course counter-intuitive to the way we have been taught, case in fact to the unscrupulous bankers who have screwed up our financial system. Putting money into the petrol tank pays a gas attendants salary (here in South Africa anyway); buying yourself a nice piece of clothing pays the shop clerks salary and so on. Jesus said “as you sow, so shall you reap” and so the more you move into the system the more will be moved back towards you.

2. Dependence

Our society teaches the importance of independence and while you can be independent of certain things you can never truly be independant. Everything relies on everything else.. everything is connected in some way. I’ve often wondered about events leading up to a specific moment so that, for eg. The beggar which I ignore on my way to work may just have been made redundant recently from a supermarket clerk job. Now for me that is not the most inspiring job.. yet it’s one that makes my life easier. So this beggar quite possibly could have been somebody that served me for many years doing a job that I certainly did not want to do and now I repay him with ignorance. When in fact it makes complete sense to realise that I was dependent on him.

Somebody had to grow and ship the veggies so that they ended up on your plate and somebody had to make that plate before you could eat off of it.. and yep, the car you use to get you from where you live (a home which was built by somebody else) to the shop that sells the veggies was build by several other people. You get the picture.

The point is simple, we all need to circulate value. Holding on so tightly to money strangles our life force, it cuts the flow like a clot in an artery and causes pain. Letting go is not the same as throwing away. This is not a call to give away all your money to charity (although that being said I see no reason why an act like this will not have the same return in some form or the other down the line) but rather a call to let go when it’s necessary to do so. When you invest in the unity of the system, it invests in you.

How incredibly hard it is to find this precious commodity! Have you ever wondered why we need to sleep? The common answer is because we need rest. Personally I don’t buy that. In silence we return to an aspect of the true source of all power, the one source of all creation.. where we let go of stimulation from the senses and for several hours every night experience the deep peace of our souls. Woaaah Ryan, that’s a pretty weird claim you’ve got going there. Yeah? Prove me wrong! Many scientists are still studying this age-old necessity and have not come up with definitive answers. If there’s one thing I have learnt in life.. nothing is what it seems. I take most things these days with a grain of salt.. especially scientific conclusions.

It has been well documented that sleep deprivation causes dysfunction of the body/mind and results in such effects as paranoia. This author has experienced this first hand, and in meditation has found an answer in the power of silence. I say again.. how incredibly hard it is find this precious commodity! I take a step back from everyday earthly existence and notice that the only time it’s truly available to me is in the evenings. We live in a society of noise addiction.. the unbelievably ugly noise of starting up a car or angry motorists hooting in traffic.. or perhaps the yapping of a colleague throughout the day bringing full circle the meaningless of office politics. Whatever it is, we are addicts.. this is clear.

So here’s a challenge: grab a pair of earplugs, switch off your tv in the evening, close your door, switch off the light, shut the hell up and listen to the sound of silence. Simon and Garfunkel weren’t kidding, there’s really something there.. it’s just we’re too distracted to sit and listen. My guess is, the majority who even try this exercise will give up a few minutes in, because they have been life trained to do something instead of just sitting and listening. Sitting in silence after all is just a waste of time now isn’t it? Seriously, if that’s your take, then go back to the idle entertainment you can’t do without.. but maybe I’ve underestimated you, maybe just maybe you have the guts to stick it out and experience the experience of silence. But remember, silence is silence.. silence is not you listening to a soft melody in the background or the constant hum of vehicles in the air because you live by the freeway ( in which case you’re probably shit out of luck).

I would love to hear from people who’ve tried this for say a month and have learnt some things from the process. I have learnt an absolute ton from my own experiences. One of the most important epiphanies being the attention of bigger issues into focus, forcing you to deal with instead of hiding them under an almost perpetual carpet of noise. Silence is one of the most overlooked secrets in mastering your life. They don’t say

Silence is Golden

for nothing.. now do they?

I find this a rather perplexing question. Ask any metaphysician today and they will most likely tell you that the universe is an illusion.. that the only real thing that exists is the soul or God and that we are the participants on an unending stage of cause and effect.

In the movies, frames are played back 24 times a second with a small pause in between each frame as they are changed out sequentially from one to the next. Of course our eyes do not perceive the small pauses in between due to the high frequency changes. This is, essentially, how the analogy goes.. and so it seems that, backed up by quantum physics the world we live in blinks in and out of existence at such a high frequency that we can’t tell the difference between the observer and the observed.

Reality then, is supposedly only theSoul.. unchanging, undefinable, blissful and so on; the Universe it’s necessary opposite.. existing in movement, definable, filled with suffering etc. The root of suffering seems to be one of the western world’s modern day buzzwords – karma. Karma (cause and effect) defines past, present and future experiences by the deeds commited in every moment of physical existence. This is not bound by the present life but extends through past and present lives as well. In this way it is said that one is responsible for one’s own life (whether they like it or not) and therefore responsible too for the pain or joy it brings to themselves and/or others in the process. The root of karma is desire so that desire -> karma -> suffering.

Desire is inevitable in physical reality. Surely the majority can relate to the desire for sex, wealth and status.. and even those who scorn these are subject to the desires of clothing, food and shelter.. however humble these desires may be they are still desires.. such is its’ nature.. dependance.

On the other hand, all the great sages, seers and teachers of the past pointed to something beneath the surface which held together our very existence.. the Soul.. which can loosely be defined as unchanging, unfathomable, joyful, unborn, undying, formless and so on.. such is its’ nature.. non-dependant and complete. I say loosely because these very sages will tell you that one the best ways to experience the Soul is via meditation. Why? Because the Soul is so incredible it is beyond words, pictures and even the mind and it’s thoughts. It is something to be experienced, or rather, re-experienced.. even now I can’t find accurate words.

Right, so now that we’ve made these distinctions I come full circle (as I so often do!). Perhaps then the Soul is the most amazing bliss we could ever know and possibly even the thing we are all truly searching for.. that non-dependance on other circumstances, that completeness that will never lead to wanting or needing something else for sustenance. But if this is the case then let me pose an interesting question: what purpose does physical life perform given the perfection of the Soul? So I ask again.. does the Soul desire?