In truth, our personalities are extremely fluid and dynamic, composed of elements that can be individuated, classified and put in right relationship. We refer to these elements as archetypes. At the broadest level, archetypes can be placed in five categories: the Shadow, the Anima/Animus, the Ego, the Persona and the Self.

Mythological characters, dream figures – even our idealization of people out there in the “real world” – are manifestations of archetypes. Within the psyche of each individual, they take unique forms. They interact in complex, often paradoxical, sometimes destructive ways. Left unchecked and unexamined, they may wage progressively more ferocious battles within us – battles that disintegrate the personality and lead to misery.

But when the archetypes are aligned in right relationship, working together in harmony, we discover that we have unlimited access to the joyous realms of Spirit.

Here are general descriptions of the five major archetypes.

The Shadow
If the archetypes were movie or literary genres, the Shadow would be Horror. This is where our demons chatter – where our most destructive, demented, anti-social instincts lie. More than any of the other archetypes, our relationship with the Shadow defines our personalities.

At one personality extreme, there are people who deny their Shadow exists. They refuse to acknowledge, even to themselves, that they have a “dark side.” The denial is futile, however, because the archetypes find expression whether we acknowledge them or not.

Those who disavow their Shadow develop neurotic relationships with projections of it in the outside world. They see evil in people everywhere and constantly put themselves in situations where they are either its victims or its shrill, hysterical – and ultimately ineffectual – combatants.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are those who give in to their Shadows’ morbid imperatives – who become the rapists, thieves and killers others fear.

Obviously, most people fall somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.

As we grow spiritually and develop a better understanding of our Shadows, we find that although this archetype contains hideous and frightening depths, it is also a profound source of creativity. We learn to navigate our way through its darkness, often uncovering sources of brilliant, life-affirming light.

Developing a useful relationship with the Shadow – scary as it may be at first – is the first step to personality integration and spiritual growth. The Shadow is the doorway to the other archetypes.

The Anima and Animus
This one is tricky to conceptualize. It is defined as the “soul.” But what is the soul?

Souls can be seen as individual expressions of the Universal Spirit. Imagine the Spirit as an enormous lake. Our souls are its rivers – drawing from it, feeding into it.

To make things even trickier, the soul of the male is feminine (anima), while the soul of the female is masculine (animus).

Essentially, the soul provides a spiritual balance to the biological imperatives of gender. Men and women are physiologically and culturally programmed to think and behave in certain ways. The soul – manifesting itself in the opposite gender – provides an opportunity for balance which, when achieved, allows us to transcend the physical and access the spiritual.

The Ego
Many refer to this archetype as the ‘I.’

It could also be called the ‘Eye.’ It is the objective observer at the core of the Self: that which sees and processes the world outside and the world within. It is consciousness. It is awareness.

As we integrate the other archetypes, this Eye – no longer distracted by all those chaotic inner battles – is able to see things more clearly. It peers deeper within our Selves. It studies the outside world with greater understanding.

A healthy Ego moves its attention fluidly between the realm of the physical and that of the Spirit, becoming ever more aware of their interconnectedness.

The Persona
T.S. Eliot referred to it as the “face to meet the faces that we meet.” Some think of it as the mask we put on to relate with the outside world.

The mask analogy can be misleading because it implies a superficial way to hide reality. There is nothing superficial about the Persona.

If you think of it as a mask, don’t visualize a cheap, store-bought mask. This mask is made from blood and sweat and tissue. It is designed with creative input from all the other archetypes. And our archetypes are constantly tweaking and refining the mask’s design according to what they perceive the “outside” world wants to see.

Understanding the archetypes allows us to take conscious control of the mask’s construction so that it improves, rather than hinders, our relationships with all those ‘faces that we meet.’

The Self

It is through the Self that we are eternally connected to the Universal Spirit.The Self is the God within. As such, it is a paradox. It contains all the other archetypes – yet is distinct from them. It is also through the Self that we maintain the illusion of separateness.

Conclusion

As we gain an understanding of the archetypes, we see how they are personified in movies, novels, mythological stories and fairy tales. We realize we have unconsciously projected these archetypes into the narratives of our lives. We hear our archetypes talking to us in dreams. We learn to talk back.

Our personalities are shaped by this ongoing dialog. The conversation goes on whether we consciously participate or not. But conscious participation is the only way to expand the personality, to bring ourselves in right relationship with the world and grow in Spirit.

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Like some of today’s art and film, mythology can be just as abstract if not more so in that respect. In fact, mythology can be thought of like dreams, as strange or crazy dreams really make no sense to the untrained mind. Dreams are a culmination of thoughts in both the conscious and unconscious minds melding to form the nocturnal imagery that induces feelings of euphoria or releases one’s worst thoughts and fears. To some, this may be thought of as the soul speaking to and heralding one’s awareness of inner thoughts and moral beliefs.

The Willing Suspension of Reality to Tell an Important Story:
Mythology can be regarded much in the same way as dreams. As far as the collective is consciously aware, there is no such thing as a giant cyclops roaming the Earth and sirens should be the least of any sailor’s concern. These inhibitions in the consciousness become more acceptable when the perceived absurdities of the unconscious are released and free to communicate with others the possibilities of encounters and experiences that seem so far fetched.

Children story books are filled with an equal amount of absurdities, though in a tamer manner that usually does not involve the death of an evil creature. Personified animals and inanimate objects are known to even the youngest mind to be improbable, but it is the possibility of such that lures the interest of the reader and listener alike.

A hen that bakes bread and refuses it to those who wouldn’t help make it, a fox that schemes a naive young girl during her traverse through the woods to visit her grandmother, and a red caboose with feelings of rejection and unimportance that saves a train from sliding down a mountain and becoming a mangled heap of scrap are all rejected by reality.

All are accepted by many as good lessons to teach, and they are written and recited to the younger generations in a manner that is interesting and chock full of what many would agree are good values so that they become aware of them and indoctrinated in to these values. Quite arguably, these stories could be regarded as toned-down versions of mythology that tell valuable stories that are often relegated to dreams.

A Restoration and Reinforcement of Morality:
Dreams bring one in touch with one’s true beliefs and morality. While many accept that deceit, theft, and murder are inherently wrong, sometimes a dream that connects with one’s inner soul and steadfast beliefs is necessary to reinforce that belief. Unfortunately, this world is not immune from the ills of those who commit evil deeds and who choose to live dark lives that are filled with disdain for the good of humanity.

Tuning in to the news each day, the overwhelming majority of the top stories are filled with negativity, providing further updates of tragedies and atrocities. The cheating politicians and pathological criminals who are given the most importance These seemingly undermine and erode the set of values that have been in place for a long time and have led a pivotal role for the survival of the human race.

Somewhere, there must be a great story to read, tell, or hear. One that allows for an escape from the everyday world and underscores morality as accepted by decent people and can even emphasize through deepness just how important it is for these values to survive, often through the incorporation of characters in a fantasy world.

Mythology tells of these values and reminds the reciter and listener alike of just how crucial these values are. One becomes both consciously and unconsciously aware of just how much these stories reach the one’s inner soul, no matter what that individual may believe.

Role Models
Role models removed from reality, but are existent in collective values of many faiths. Mythology embodies and embraces the values that transcend the various religious faiths. The mainstream religious faiths of this world are often based upon the belief that living one’s life in a certain manner will elevate that believer to a higher status after death.

However, there are numerous faiths and no one can be certain until death which faith is the correct one to believe, no matter what religious figure says is the irrefutable truth. Mythology reaches the souls of believers across all faiths and is the language of souls communicating with other souls to reiterate right and wrong through characters that are not tied to any single religious faith.

Perhaps best of all, these characters and the the stories they tell need not contradict or compromise anyone’s religious faith. That is, of course, assuming that the person receiving the story keeps an open mind.

The characters created through these stories exist in the mind, yet communicate to the souls of many. They express many of the values that are often forgotten during everyday living and refocus those who care to listen to the moral of the story which remind of the generally acceptable ways to conduct one’s life.

These seemingly demoralizing events of the world that occur daily may be dissolved through the rather intriguing absurdities of the stories of mythological characters who communicate through their own world that relates to the one known by all.

Communicating with the Soul Through Mythology
Reaching the soul can seem difficult, though in truth it is not far from being in touch with one’s self. Mythology can be thought of as a means of easing the process of reaching one’s soul or even other souls. After all, many faiths teach that these souls will ultimately receive what is justly theirs upon death. Given that as an accepted tenet of any mainstream faith, keeping in touch with the soul is vital.

Reaching this soul through a manner also entertaining to the conscious being is with less difficulty through the use of mythology. Reading these stories exercises the mind and the conscious and unconscious mind communicate with the soul. This soul is both constantly aware and made aware of the values held dearly. A good story reinforces, reminds, and resonates these ideals that have bound the human race through both strife and fortune.

So, instead of neglecting to read a mythological story the next time the opportunity arises, give it a fair chance. This story could very well be communicating with the soul through its own language. A much-needed restoration to what is true and good could be afforded with the time to truly pay attention to this story, which is also the practice of paying attention to and communicating with the soul.

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When a surfer rides an ocean wave, he or she does so by balancing on a surfboard, which is smoothed and polished to minimize friction and thus enable the surfer to flow freely as the wave rises, crests and falls away.

The surfer doesn’t seek to control the wave but to be in harmony with it. Focused  and present, he or she is alert and balanced – flexible and responsive to the nuances of every moment.

We are all surfers, individually and collectively riding a tidal wave of change.

Whilst we can attempt to cling to the past or grasp at the future, we only have the power to make our choices in the ‘now’ of each present moment. In  the eternal ‘now’, we have the   power to choose to be in harmony with the Cosmos and to make our choices on the  basis of love – or we can choose to only perceive the sometimes chaotic foam on the surface of the wave and make our choices from the continuing illusion of separation and on the  basis of fear.

We can perceive and choose to consciously align with the underlying harmony and purpose, which continually co-creates the physical world and align ourselves with its transcendent source.

And each and every one of us can contribute by choosing to focus our energies to the positive re-envisaging of the world – or remain mired in the negativity which the illusion of separation engenders.

Intend
Our familiar experience of the hologram is that it is produced by laser light that is thus coherent and focused.

As our awareness expands and we actively value the wisdom of our hearts and the inner voice of our intuition, our consciousness becomes ever more coherent.

And by attuning our intention to the highest purpose, we become empowered to consciously co-create our realities. What we can imagine, we can become.

Reconcile
Einstein once said that ‘science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind’

Perennial wisdom perceives unified consciousness as the ultimate source of the manifest Cosmos, the transcendent One from which is birthed the essential dance of yin and yang – the means by which consciousness explores the richness and diversity of its own creation. And in the universal experience of tripartite forms and processes – the mediation, resolution and completion of three within One – that wholeness is reconciled.

But the illusion of such expressed separation has become one that we have mistaken as being the only reality. We  have dis-membered our psyche as we have collectively explored its diversity.

It is time to re-member the wholeness of who we really are and to make our choices from that deeper and ultimate reality.  It is time to make our choices from love rather than fear, to include rather than exclude and to co-operate rather than compete.

Co-create
We are spiritual beings undergoing a physical experience. And each of us is powerful beyond measure.

It is time for us to real-ize this. Empowered  by our highest awareness and held in the presence of the universal heart, we can stand straight and lovingly offer the world our unique gifts.

Together, the resonance of our co-creation is greater than the sum of its parts. And each and every one of us can play our unique role in midwiving Heaven on Earth now.

Heal the whole
The spiritual teacher Sogyal Rimpoche has spoken of how, two and a half millennia ago, the Buddha compared the physical universe to a vast net woven of a countless variety of brilliant jewels, each with a countless number of facets. Each jewel reflects in itself every other jewel in the net and is in fact one with every other jewel. Everything is inextricably interrelated and we come to realize that we are responsible for everything that we do, say or think, responsible in fact for ourselves, everyone and everything else and the entire universe.

We are the jewels of creation and we are the creator.

The final step of any initiation becomes the first step of the next stage of the journey of discovery. It is time for us to take a giant leap.

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O is a symbol of the world, of oneness and unity.  O Books explores the many paths of wholeness and spiritual understanding which different traditions have developed down the ages. Our books bring this knowledge in an accessible form, to a general readership, providing practical spirituality to today’s seekers.  Find out more at www.o-books.net

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This transition isn’t without precedent. In 1491, most people believed that the earth was flat. Anyone who sailed a ship into the sunset, it was thought, would likely reach the end of the world and tumble into the depths of hell. That perception changed in 1492 when Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, along with the fact that the earth was actually round. What a difference a year can make!

Think about Isaac Newton: When an apple fell on his head and he wondered, Why did that happen? he discovered the law of gravity. Some time later, Galileo discovered other aspects of gravity, such as the different rates of speed at which objects fall and the impact of wind resistance. Perhaps a better, more accurate word than discovered, however, is awakened. After all, the law of gravity existed before Newton and Galileo, just as the New World existed before Columbus arrived.

With a new awareness of gravity, some people began to look to the sky and see birds in a different way. They started to fold paper in unique configurations, creating objects that could float in the air. Their perception changed . . . they awakened. Human beings, they realized, had the potential to fly – so they made wing-shaped contraptions and began jumping off cliffs (some to their deaths).

Everyone called them crazy. But after many disasters, the Wright brothers developed the Flyer I in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and took to the skies. In December of 1903, Orville and Wilbur changed the course of humankind by awakening to the potential of powered flight. Think about it! It’s only been a little more than 100 years since the famous flight of the Flyer I. The brothers didn’t realize at the time that they were learning what the birds already knew: the law of aerodynamics – the right combination of velocity, lift, and pressure corresponds to the ability to fly (or crash).

It was Albert Einstein’s awakening to the theory of relativity, E = mc2, that has become the bridge between modern-day physics and what we now call energy healing (which The LifeLine Technique is based on). Einstein was seeking to understand the gravitational force on a falling object when he awakened to this powerful formula. E refers to energy, m defines mass, and c is the speed of light. The closer an object’s mass moves toward the speed of light, the greater its density and the gravitational pull on it. Einstein’s theory states that if the object doesn’t have enough potential energy to arrive at the speed of light, then the density and gravitational pull acting on it causes it to stop. However, when the mass reaches the speed of light, it’s converted into energy.

The science of quantum physics further demonstrates that everything in the universe is composed of energy and is always in motion. The varying states of matter – solid, liquid, and gas-represent the different frequencies of energy, and the rate at which energy moves determines the physical state of matter. How life flows through us determines the nature of the stream of energy through the body.

There is a “pinnacle” law, like the law of aerodynamics, that reinforces Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum physics. It is The LifeLine Law of Transformation and Creation: Emotions transform energy; energy creates movement; movement is change; and change is the essence of life. The body is very much like a computer: It responds in a binary (on/off) manner. Every time you experience an emotion, your brain produces an electrical frequency that instantly sends signals and patterns throughout its mass, as well as to every cell in your body.

Depending on the positive or negative – optimistic or pessimistic – content of that emotion, its vibratory frequency creates movement or blocks it within your physical body. Consequently, the direction of your health is dependent upon the unfettered flow of energy to and from the brain. The challenge is that 98 percent of the mind is subconscious. When life experiences move freely through the subconscious mind, the body is able to heal.

It’s interesting to note the connection between physics and linguistics, and how they segue to help us understand the process of healing. Energy in motion is literally E-motion. How the body is transformed by emotions depends on the regenerative or degenerative cycle in which it expresses itself – that is, a cycle of health or of disease. The trillions of cells that form the body are constantly breaking down and rebuilding in a circadian rhythm . . . this process is called life.

In order to heal, light or energy must be able to flow through the physical body unimpeded. As in Einstein’s theory of relativity, when this energy does so, the density or gravitational pull on the body increases. This increase forces the body to go through a process of detoxification or purification. The poisons, toxins, and blockages that have accumulated over time are released, and the body is able to regenerate.

Contrary to conventional medicine’s paradigm of symptom relief, it is energy that promotes the body’s self-healing potential. In Chinese healing, energy or life force is referred to as chi; in the Ayurvedic tradition, it’s called prana.

The LifeLine Technique works by balancing the energy of the body to help people release stress and signs of illness. Symptoms are a result of stored poisons, toxins, or blockages caused by the subconscious internalization or denial of – and disconnection from – emotions. It’s by reconnecting to the feelings that have been trapped within the subconscious mind that we can achieve optimal health.

The New Frontier of Healing
Energy healing facilitates the movement of the spirit, creating a more harmonious connection between the body and the universe. The more balanced your connection is to the world around you, the better you’ll feel . . . the better your life force will flow. Just as we use energy from the earth to make our lives easier – from cell phones and satellites to e-mail and television – as human beings, we harness energy to both assess and optimize health.

We evaluate wellness by measuring the body’s electrical potential. Think about it: An electrocardiogram (EKG) measures the electrical activity of the heart. When an EKG is “flatline,” an individual’s body no longer has the potential to maintain its energetic life force, and that person is pronounced dead. The brain’s activity is assessed with an electroencephalogram (EEG). Muscles are gauged with an electromyogram (EMG). It’s because of the body’s electromagnetic field that we’re able to view different anatomical parts with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Now take a moment to visualize clouds floating across the sky and waves moving over the surface of water. The energy that pushes the clouds or water is the same force that manifests itself within the physical movement of your body. By learning to unleash the blocked energy within, you’ll unlock your infinite potential to achieve optimal health and well-being.

What I know to be true and what the power of Infinite Love & Gratitude and The LifeLine Technique has proven is this: The greatest obstacle to your health and well-being is the subconscious disconnection from your emotions.

Learning the Body’s Language
Paying attention to symptoms is the key to understanding what’s going on in your body. They are how the body “speaks.” Some of them may be quite obvious, while others are so subtle that you regard them as normal functions. Either way, symptoms are symphonies that the body composes to get your attention.

Your body speaks only when necessary, and symptoms are the way it says: “I don’t want this in me any longer,” or “I’m not happy with the way you’re treating me.” Your body loves you; it communicates to help you appreciate that you’re in danger. I tell all my patients that symptoms are gifts from their physical selves. These gifts, however, arrive in very strange wrapping paper.

Whether they include headaches, stomach pain, diarrhea, nausea, fatigue, low-back pain, depression, panic, anxiety, inflammatory bowel disease, or cancer, symptoms are the body’s way of saying, “I am out of balance.”

These imbalances occur emotionally, structurally, biochemically, or spiritually. When you indiscriminately take a pharmaceutical drug to address a symptom, you’re basically telling your body to “shut up,” impairing its ability to heal. Emergency medicine is superb for saving lives in times of crisis. However, popping a pill for every ailment without addressing the underlying cause inhibits the body’s natural capacity to heal itself. It’s the same as taking the battery out of a fire detector in your home: Without the battery, the alarm can’t alert you to danger. Even worse, the problem escalates – by suppressing symptoms, you mask the body’s ability to warn you of danger lurking within.

Emotions can be defined as the energy that moves us. Considering that energy is always in motion, when we disconnect from, internalize, or deny an emotion, that energy takes a wrong turn that often keeps us stuck in a maze. Every time these buried emotions are triggered, the body becomes compromised and has to compensate, leaving it at risk for injury or opportunistic pathogens. Recurrent symptoms and chronic stress are the warning signs that emotions are trapped within the subconscious mind.

Symptoms start long before we become conscious of them. They usually begin as an uncomfortable feeling. When ignored, that uncomfortable feeling – that is, the emotion that we internalized, denied, or disconnected from – manifests in the body as an imbalance. This leads to stagnation or leakage of life force, which results in symptoms, dependent upon where the problem is located. If left unchecked, the imbalance becomes a pattern of “dis-ease,” and eventually pathology, that will devastate the body on every level.

The current medical-industry paradigm is to treat and suppress symptoms. For every symptom, your allopathic (medical) doctor is likely to write a prescription for you. Yet chronic diseases are at an all-time high – very few people are getting well. In our nation alone, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity are rampant in every age group. Not one medication on the market cures these illnesses. Insulin, for example, doesn’t eliminate diabetes. And doctors never say that chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery cures cancer; instead, they state that the cancer is “in remission.”

Of course, the doctor’s intention is to alleviate the symptoms and help people get well. Many of the medications they prescribe, however, have what physicians refer to as side effects. I think that’s a funny term: They’re not “side” effects – they’re the direct effects caused by the pharmaceutical drugs, and they create additional symptoms for which you’re usually encouraged to take more medication.

At that point, you’re taking additional drugs for symptoms caused by the original medication. The cycle has spiraled out of control. What happens in the interim? By not listening to what your body was telling you in the first place, you’ve made it weaker and more vulnerable.

Just remember that nobody knows more about you than you. No one sees life through your eyes, hears with your ears, smells through your nose, tastes with your mouth, feels through your skin, or is aware of your intuition as acutely as you are. Once you embrace the fact that the natural state of the body is health and wholeness, you’ll never look at a symptom in the same way again. As the late Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes remarked, “Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” Once you know, you know forever, and that means you must be authentic in how you live your life.

The LifeLine Technique locates the disruption in the flow of energy and releases it immediately, targeting the cause of disease. Sometimes the symptom will go away with one treatment. On other occasions, the process involves a journey to awaken your spirit. The LifeLine Technique doesn’t work inside a vacuum. It requires that you make the necessary adjustments to your lifestyle in order to maintain your body’s balance. The Five Basics for Optimal Health include the quantity, quality, and frequency of water consumption, food intake, rest, exercise, and owning your power . . . these are the keys to helping the body tap in to its innate potential to heal.

This excerpt has been taken from the book The Power of Infinite Love and Gratitude: An Evolutionary Journey to Awakening Your Spirit by Dr. Darren R. Weissman. It is published by Hay House, and available at all bookstores or online at: www.hayhouse.com.

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People everywhere want to know how to improve their lives. Typically they believe that if they had more money, more power, more success, and better relationships, then they would be happy. Because of such beliefs, the world is full of fixers. There is a motivational guru on every corner, and there is no shortage of people waiting to spend their time and money on learning the “secrets to success.” In a sense, I am no different; however, after more than thirty years of working with individuals in emotional distress, people seeking inner peace, athletes looking to win gold medals, sports organizations seeking to win championships, ordinary people trying to find a place in this world, and so on, I have learned this: The model is all wrong!

Imagine that you’re visiting New York City for the first time. You’re amazed at the skyline – all those immensely tall buildings. You visit a beautiful area of high-rise condominiums. These are truly luxurious condos, all with balconies suspended above the sidewalk. It’s a glorious day. The sun is out, and the slight breeze you feel is warm and comforting. The air is unusually fresh for any part of the world, and you’re simply walking, taking in the sights and sounds, and enjoying the day to the fullest. It’s New York, and you have heard stories about this city, but it’s light and bright and pleasant, and you walk on, thinking of all that you’ll tell your friends back home.

Suddenly, from the third-floor balcony above you, a flowerpot falls and slams onto your head. The pot is deflected onto the sidewalk and shatters. You’re not seriously hurt, but your head is hurting. You feel a bulge rapidly building into a rather large knot. Your scalp has a nasty abrasion that burns when you touch it, and on your hand is a small amount of blood. The suddenness and pain have raised your adrenaline level. That old fight/flight mechanism has kicked in, and the neurochemicals are flowing. Anger begins to rise. Now you have some choices.

What Would You Do?
Let’s think about that and explore some possibilities – possibilities given me over many years of lecturing. You could go up to that third-floor condo and shove you know what where. You might get there only to discover that the owner is a defensive linebacker for some professional football team and his biceps are larger than your waist. Then you might change your plan.

What else could you do? Some might think of this as an opportunity. “I’ll sue this fat cat. Anyone who puts a flowerpot too close to the edge of the balcony railing, just waiting to fall on someone, should be educated. What if it had fallen on a small child or a baby in a buggy passing under the balcony? Suing will be a quickie – they’ll settle out of court. That’ll teach them to be more careful in the future. Concussion and whiplash – I wonder what those are worth.”

What else could you do? Well, some might think the incident was a sign from the gods. It’s time to be metaphysical – after all, the blow might have delivered enlightenment. It might even be like one of those lightning strikes in which the person struck gains special metaphysical or parapsychological abilities. Like John Travolta in the movie Phenomena, such a person can do or solve almost anything. It’s like instantly acquiring the knowledge of the universe.

What Else Could You Do?
William James is credited with coining the term pragmatic. What is pragmatic? In our instance, it is simply responding to the stimuli in a manner that works for you. What would work for you? What if you picked up the flower off the hot sidewalk and took it to a florist for repotting? What if you selected a very nice pot, had the plant repotted, and then returned it to the owner with an explanation of why it was in a new pot? You could say something like this: “Your flower pot fell from your balcony and hit me on the head. The pot smashed against the sidewalk, so I took the beautiful flower to the florist and had it repotted for you. Here it is. I hope you like the new pot.”

Of all the things you might do, what do you think would make you feel the best? Of all the things you might do, what do you think would change those neurochemicals from fight/flight to growth and pleasure? Which choice would serve you best? The answer is obvious. But since it is so obvious, why wasn’t it recognized right away? Here is my point. In a scenario such as our flower pot story – and believe me we all have similar scenarios, like the person who cuts us off in traffic or pushes into line in front of those already queued up – why do we fail to see the obvious and instead choose the lesser? When the obvious should be so clear as to render the notion of choice unto the canvas of Krishnamurti, no choice, why is it so many of us fail even to recognize the alternative?

In my new book, Choices and Illusions, the reason so many fail together with the methods and means to correct this and all the other higher self alienating foibles most of us find ourselves perpetuating and repeating, are spelled out in a straight forward step by step way. If you never read the book, know this: it is always a matter of what you give and not what you take that defines the pivot point between success and failure.

About the author:
Eldon Taylor has made a lifelong study of the human mind and has earned doctoral degrees in clinical psychology and pastoral psychology. He is the CEO of Progressive Awareness Research, an organization dedicated to researching techniques for accessing the immense powers of the mind. He is a Fellow in the American Psychotherapy Association and is the author of over 300 books, audio and video programs. To contact Eldon in response to the story, you can reach him via his website: www.innertalk.com.

For a limited time only, when you purchase just one copy of Choices and Illusions, you can receive numerous bonus gifts valued at over $1000. For details, please click here.

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The purest definition for ego is the individuated consciousness of Infinite Being. It is who you are as a unique and distinct personality apart from universal consciousness. It is your expressed self that is localized within time and space. It is your existence as a free will entity that can think and act with or apart from higher intelligence. Imagine Spirit as an ocean and the individual wave as ego. The wave and ocean are one just as Spirit and ego are one. One represents the whole and the other represents the part.

Ego has its use for Spirit. Ego is the way by which Spirit perceives reality from one place and one moment. Ego is how Spirit has uniqueness of experience. Ego is also how Spirit expresses in a particular way that is unlike any other. The reason for not being attached to ego or your own personal reality is so that you are free to realize your total Self as Spirit which is unlimited, unbounded and capable of being, doing and having anything. Then are you truly free to live your life fully with the power of Spirit.

Without ego, there is no independence of thinking, which means you as an individual would not exist. You would not be able to have the experience of a unique personality along with personal memories and choices in this universe. So it would be pointless to do away with the ego since Spirit created ego to express and experience itself. The key to spirituality is not to get rid of the ego, but it is to become not limited by it. Spirituality is about realizing Spirit and harmonizing ego with it. We become One and All.

Spirituality is not about power over anyone. It is about self- empowerment, about power with everyone. The ego of a spiritual person is not a problem. It is an essential part of the human system, created expressly by The Creator of all life in order for it to experience self-consciousness from an infinite number of viewpoints. Infinite Being is the all-encompassing consciousness from which the universe was created. Everything in the universe is made of consciousness. Each snowflake is unique, so is each person.

You cannot cut off a part of yourself. The ego cannot be cast away and forgotten. It is your essential sense of identity. Even if someone were successful in casting away a part of themselves, there would come a time when they would have to retrieve that lost part and integrate it back into themselves in a healthy, holistic manner. That is why you always have reoccurring problems in life until you’ve resolved those parts of you which the situations keep bringing up. Psychological integration is wholeness of being.

You are an expression of Infinite Being as it experiences itself from all possible viewpoints. The best way you can serve yourself and Infinite Being, the source within us all, is to live your life to your own, personal, highest potential. And celebrate who you are, because there is no one exactly like you in the entire universe. Knowing this truth frees you to embrace your ego completely and allow it to be freely and fully expressed. You have every right to be who you are because you were designed to be that way.

Your primary purpose in life is to experience life from one individual, unique point of view. That answers the great question in life about what you are here for. You created yourself to exist in this physical world for the purpose of expressing yourself in a particular way and to live life with a unique experience. You are meant to live your life and not the life of another. So you are the best person you were born to be and you have the best destiny that you have given to yourself. Go ahead and live it to the fullest.

There are two extreme paths that a person can go in life. One is the path of extreme selfishness and the other is the path of extreme selflessness. Extreme selfishness is to seek to benefit oneself as much as possible while extreme selflessness is to seek to benefit others as much as possible. But both paths ultimately end up in the same place. Because in order to benefit oneself as much as possible, you must benefit others, and in order to benefit others as much as possible, you must benefit yourself too.

By helping others to the detriment of yourself, you become disempowered from serving them as best as you can. Not only that, you also now need others to help you in areas where you are in detriment. By serving yourself to the detriment of others, you cause your environment to deteriorate and therefore worsening your overall situation which isn’t to your best interest. The best way of being is to serve others and yourself completely. Ultimate selfless and selfishness are one because you are the Self of all.

People who only take from others or only give to others are ignorant of their total Self as Spirit or Infinite Being. We are all here as unique individuals to share our special gifts with each other. Giving and receiving are necessary steps to complete the process of energy exchange between ego and ego within Spirit. Your unique gift is given to the world when you express your unique self here. The best way to help others is by doing your own thing. By shinning your light, you inspire others to shine theirs as well.

About the author:
Enoch Tan aims to help people achieve greater awareness in living and experiencing life, to evolve human consciousness to higher levels and to revolutionize the way we understand the mind and reality, because that’s what governs every area of life and destiny. When you learn Secret Knowledge of The
Universe and Answers to Life Greatest Mysteries, you can have Wealth, Power, Freedom and Anything you want! Visit the site: Secrets of Mind and Reality

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Join millions of people from every corner of the globe in learning the most powerful manifestation tool in the history of the world. Then on one momentous day we’ll use the code to promote peace and compassion for all beings through over 1000 gatherings worldwide.

This is the chance for humanity to use the Law of Attraction to create peace on the deepest level.

Bestselling author, musician, and filmmaker James Twyman announces the release of The Moses Code, set for a unique synchronized worldwide opening on April 5, 2008, with a book releasing in March (Hay House) by the same title. The Moses Code is a powerful film bringing together some of the best-known spiritual leaders of our time to discuss the importance of service as a spiritual practice.

Setting the stage for a new paradigm in filmmaking, this is the first time that a major spiritual film is being released in conjunction with a worldwide prayer vigil (April 6th) drawing millions of people together on one day to watch the film in over 2000 venues, then using the tools expressed in the film to extend prayers of peace to the Middle East.

In today’s fast-paced society many of us are searching to move beyond materialism in order to reach a deep level of fulfillment. James Twyman states, “Millions of people are entranced by the idea that they can attract new cars and a bigger bank account that they forget how important their role is for changing the world. In a way, it’s time to spiritualize the spiritual law of attraction. That’s the goal of this film.”

The Moses Code features dynamic spiritual teachers and bestselling authors who share their wisdom and insights about the true meaning of abundance. Speakers include:

• Cheryl Richardson (Stand Up for Your Life)
• Iyanla Vanzant (One Day My Heart Just Opened Up)
• Sonia Choquette (Your Heart’s Desire)
• Gregg Braden (The God Code)
• Neale Donald Walsch (Conversations with God)
• James Van Praagh (The Ghost Whisperer)
• Debbie Ford (Dark Side of the Light Chasers)

Debbie Ford is also a co-producer of the film. Says Debbie, “Every day I wake up knowing I am a small piece and the embodiment of the greater whole and I look to see what I can do each day to give and to
serve the community (even when I don’t want to). I strive to be a living breathing contribution and to always give more than I receive.”

The film also showcases real life examples of modern day giving and service. Weaving through the film is the spiritual, uplifting music of Tina Melia and an appearance by Victor Wooten performing his new single “I Saw God the Other Day.” The film is a compelling reminder that each of us has the power to change the world.

The Moses Code will feature an interactive website, www.themosescode.com, that will allow viewers to sign up to host special screenings in their own homes, learn more about the movie, and participate in the revolutionary film release on April 5th.

Watch the trailer here: The Moses Code

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Photographed in the stunning Lahaul-Spiti region of Northern India, Milarepa offers a provocative parallel to the cycle of violence and retribution we see consuming today’s world.

Milarepa, one of the most widely known Tibetan saints, is also revered for the verses he composed throughout his life, known as the Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa. His faithful devotion to his teacher, Marpa, astonishing perseverance, and ultimate attainment made his life story into a legend, inspiring millions.

Milarepa was born in 1052, the Year of the Water Dragon, in the shadow of Mount Tisi, in Tibet. His family name, Mila, came from a paternal ancestor, and he was given the surname Thopa Ga, Joy-to-Hear. His family was wealthy, but his father’s death, while he and his younger sister were still children, left Thopaga, his mother and sister at the mercy of a ruthless uncle and aunt, who robbed them of every possession, and forced them into servitude. At his mother’s urging, Thopaga sought the teaching of a sorcerer, in order to fulfill his mother’s desire for vengeance.

Once he acquired the adequate powers, Thopaga returned to his village, murdered most of his aunt’s and uncle’s family and then fled. He soon regretted his actions and, realizing the need to purify his karma, sought instruction in Buddhism. After a period of fruitless practice, his first teacher told Thopaga that his karmic connection was stronger with another lama named Marpa Lotsawa, “The Translator of Mar,” and sent Thopaga to find him.

Marpa was a married householder, a great teacher, and the translator of many Sanskrit Buddhist works that have become a standard part of the Tibetan canon. In India his principal guru was Naropa, whose principal guru was Tilopa, a direct successor of the Kagyu lineage. While basically warm and compassionate, Marpa could be quite stern, a method especially appropriate for purifying karmic obstructions. Marpa subjected Milarepa to several years of frustrating trials before he taught him directly. After much intense purification, Milarepa thoroughly devoted himself to practicing these teachings, and achieved his goal of personal liberation.

After Milarepa left Marpa, he pursued his practice continually, living mostly in caves in the desolate mountains of Tibet and Nepal. His austere habit of wearing only a single cotton robe year round earned him the title “repa,” (cotton clad) which, added to his family name, became “Milarepa.” Occasionally he interrupted his solitude to beg for food, and in return would recite extemporaneous teaching songs. Although Milarepa endured great difficulties, he always exhibited great courage, and his reputation grew far and wide.

Milarepa was known for a wry sense of humor and for his candid and direct style. Milarepa never welcomed fame, however, and it seemed as if he often rejected would-be disciples; but this is one of many paradoxes of his unique approach. Judging from the number of his accomplished disciples — particularly for someone who made such an effort to avoid people – he was extremely effective.

About the director:
Neten Chokling Rinpoche, born in Wandipodzong, central Bhutan in 1973, was recognized and enthroned by both the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa and Kyabj Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, from whom he received many teachings and transmissions. Renowned as an accomplished practitioner, he is the spiritual head of the Pema Ewam Choegar Gyurmeling Monastery in India and Tibet

Neten Chokling Rinpoche’s lineage is that of the great terton (treasure finder) Chokgyur Lingpa, and traces itself back to the Tibetan king, Trisong Detsen, who invited Guru Rinpoche to Tibet.

In previous incarnations Neten Chokling Rinpoche accomplished many great activities in association with Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892), a renowned Buddhist saint who played a pivotal role in the revitalization and preservation of Buddhism in Tibet in the 19th century. Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s present incarnation is Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, aka Khyentse Norbu – the critically acclaimed film director.

Likewise, Neten Chokling Rinpoche is fascinated with the power of cinematic art and the emotional influence of storytelling through sound and movingpictures. He greatly admires the directors Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou.

Neten Chokling was a principal actor in Khyentse Norbu’s The Cup; and assisted in his latest production Travellers and Magicians as a stuntman, assistant to the director and 2nd unit director. The tradition of accomplishing remarkable activities with Khyentse Norbu, which dates back many centuries, is apparently very much alive and well in this century.

Neten Chokling’s rigorous training in Buddhist meditation and philosophy, combined with a deep interest in the film medium, make him well-suited to bring the teachings alive in a way that is accessible to a modern audience.

For more information visit: The official Milarepa movie website

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If you think that the perfect state of your life can only be experienced when everything you desire is manifested, then you are separating yourself in time. Thinking in terms of linear time is what creates resistance towards our desires manifesting as perfectly as possible. There is really no separation between past, present and future because spirit contains it all as one reality. Your perfect life is not something that happens at a certain point of time, but it is the one where you’re aligned with your highest purpose.

There is not just one line of time that you will experience. There are multiple lanes of time running parallel with each other with their corresponding alternate states of the universe. Out of the many pathways that you can take in life, there is one particular path that is in alignment with your highest purpose. The universe has what you truly desire all lined up at different points of time in that particular path. The moment you step into your true path, you are living the perfect life instantly no matter where in time.

The things that you truly desire will never come to you on any other pathways other than your highest one. That is because your higher self sent you into this world with a purpose and everything to do with that purpose is what truly makes you happy. The feeling of happiness, fulfillment and true desire is what you experience when think or act in alignment with your higher self. These feelings were programmed into your soul before it emerged into physical life. They are your guidance of what you are here for.

The reason why we experience disappointment and unhappiness is because we are on another path instead of our true one. Even when we are on our true path, it does not mean we will remain in it all the time. We tend to get on and off our path from time to time. The purpose of growing is to become more developed in our consciousness and being so that we can find and remain on our true path more and more of the time. Every time we are off it, life feels bad but every time we’re on it, life feels good again.

There is a difference between a life path and a lane of time. Our life path can switch between lanes of time from time to time. Even our true life path is not created to stay fixed in one particular lane of time all the way. Every new decision we make can alter the entire course of our lives in ways that changes everything. Therefore the way things are going in one lane of time will totally change when we switch lanes. Our higher self will guide us in the switching of lanes according to the life path it has charted.

In pursuing your true path, you may face obstacles along the way that seem to stop you from moving forward. You may start doubting if you’re on your true path and start thinking that God is playing a cosmic joke on you for leading you in a direction that only gets your head banging against a wall. Actually the obstacles are only present in the lane of time we are on. When it seems impossible to move forwards but we are guided to, that’s when it’s time to trust the universe to shift our time line as we move on.

We would think the future is impossible when looking at it based on the timeline we are on. We can only predict the probable futures based on the present. That is why predictions of the future turn out wrong when the time line is shifted. When you think what you’ve been given is wrong, you’re saying that the universe makes mistakes. But there are no mistakes. Every element is a piece of a greater puzzle, and with each new piece that falls into place, the look of the entire picture in the moment is changed.

There is a life path you have in which everything you need to have will come in through synchronicities that cannot be calculated because the factors are hidden and will only be revealed in divine timing and divine order. Things aren’t always what they seem to be. What you see are only possible future scenarios that can only be seen from the present time point of view. But as time moves along, many elements will shift and rearrange themselves turning what seems to be bad into what is completely good.

Obstacles are not really obstacles. It is an illusion when we think something is stopping us. If the universe wants us to go a certain way, the way will open up and the obstacles will disappear when we move in that direction. If something seems to remain in the way, it means it is not the right timing for it to happen yet. Just keep moving where the path is open for you and you will find that is exactly where the universe has intended for you to move all along. The universe makes a way where there is no way.

So your perfect life is not something you experience when all your dreams and desires are manifested.

Your perfect life is experienced the moment you step into your true path where you are living your dream and expressing yourself fully in the moment.

Your perfect life is not something you have to move towards in time, it is something right beside you that you can step into instantly. It is not something in the future but what you can experience in the present now. When you shift into your destiny, it is perfect.

About the author:
Enoch Tan aims to help people achieve greater awareness in living and experiencing life. To evolve human consciousness to higher levels. To change lives and transform the universe. To revolutionize the way we understand the mind and reality. Because that is what governs every area of life and destiny.

Get free ebooks of the most powerful knowledge and learn secrets of mind and reality that will fully benefit you now at: Secrets of Mind and Reality

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The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
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When my doctoral student Vincent Paquette and I first began studying the spiritual experiences of Carmelite nuns at the Université de Montréal, we knew that our motives were quite likely to be misunderstood.

First, we had to convince the nuns that we were not trying to prove that their religious experiences did not actually occur, that they were delusions, or that a brain glitch explained them. Then we had to quiet both the hopes of professional atheists and the fears of clergy about the possibility that we were trying to reduce these experiences to some kind of “God switch” in the brain.

Many neuroscientists want to do just that. These scientists are materialists who believe that the physical world is the only reality. Absolutely everything else — including thought, feeling, mind, and will — can be explained in terms of matter and physical phenomena, leaving no room for the possibility that religious and spiritual experiences are anything but illusions.

But I belong to a minority — nonmaterialist neuroscientists. I do not doubt in principle that a contemplative might contact a reality outside herself during a mystical experience. In fact, I went into neuroscience in part because I knew experientially that such things can indeed happen. I simply sought to study what the neural correlates — the activity of the neurons — during such an experience might be.

Of course, you may well ask, can neuroscience studies of contemplative nuns demonstrate that God exists? No, but they can — and did — demonstrate that the mystical state of consciousness really exists. In this state, the contemplative likely experiences aspects of reality that are not available in other states.

These findings rule out various materialist theses that the contemplative is faking or confabulating the experience. Our research also showed that mystical experiences are complex — a finding that challenges a vast variety of simplistic materialist explanations such as a “God gene,” “God spot,” or “God switch” in our brains.

Recently, materialistic explanations of religion and spirituality have gotten out of hand. Influenced by this materialistic prejudice, popular media jump at stories about the violence gene, the fat gene, the monogamy gene, the infidelity gene, and now a God gene. The argument goes like this: evolutionary psychologists attempt to explain human spirituality and belief in God by insisting that cave dwellers in the remote past who believed in a supernatural reality were more likely to pass on their genes than cave dwellers who didn’t.

Essentially, there is no God switch. As our studies with the Carmelite nuns have demonstrated, spiritual experiences are complex experiences, like our experiences of human relationships. They leave signatures in many parts of the brain. That fact is consistent with (though it does not by itself demonstrate) the notion that the experiencer contacts a reality outside herself.

Some think that the solution to the evidence against materialism is to continue to uphold materialism a bit more raucously than before. Currently, key materialist spokespersons have launched a heavily publicized and somewhat puzzling “anti-God” crusade. Antitheistic works such as Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon (Daniel Dennett), The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins), God: The Failed Hypothesis — How Science Shows that God Does Not Exist (Victor J. Stenger), God Is Not Great (Christopher Hitchens), and Letters to a Christian Nation (Sam Harris) are accompanied by conferences such as the Science Network’s “Beyond Belief” and campaigns such as the YouTube Blasphemy Challenge.

The remarkable thing is that there isn’t a single new idea in anything they have to say. Eighteenth-century philosophes said it all long ago, to as much or little purpose. Granted, recent works have been spiced with the questionable assumptions of evolutionary psychology — the attempt to derive religion and spirituality from the practices that may have enabled a few of our Pleistocene ancestors to pass on their genes. But the Pleistocene ancestors are long gone, and not much can really be learned from a discipline that lacks a subject.

Materialists are quick to make assurance about the illusory nature of mind, consciousness and free will, and the uselessness or danger of spirituality. A variety of experts of the mid-twentieth century had predicted that spirituality would slowly but surely disappear. Once supplied with abundant material goods, people would just stop thinking about God.

But the experts were wrong. Spirituality today is more varied, but it is growing all over the world. Thus, its continuing vitality prompts speculations, fears and some pretty wild guesses — but most of all, a compelling curiosity, a desire to investigate.

But how can we investigate spirituality scientifically? To start with, we can rediscover our nonmaterialist inheritance. It has always been there, just widely ignored. Famous neuroscientists such as Charles Sherrington, Wilder Penfield and John Eccles, were not in fact reductive materialists, and they had good reasons for their position. Today, nonmaterialist neuroscience is thriving, despite the limitations imposed by widespread misunderstanding and, in a few cases, hostility. Readers are urged to approach all the questions and evidence presented with an open mind. This is a time for exploration, not dogma.

About the author:
Dr. Mario Beauregard’s groundbreaking work on the neurobiology of mystical experience at the University of Montreal has received international attention. Because of his research into the neuroscience of consciousness, Beauregard was selected by the World Media Net to be among the “One Hundred Pioneers of the 21st Century.”

Reprinted from The Spiritual Brain by Dr. Mario Beauregard and Denyse O’Leary, published by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; used by permission.

Available at amazon: The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Case for the Existence of the Soul

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