"Amplifying Divine Light in All" Church

Bright and Dim Levels of Chakras

2010-10-09T02:22:00.000-07:00

BRIGHT AND DIM LEVELS OF CHAKRAS

I believe it is dangerous and handicapping to say -- as many in the New Age movement do -- "We must learn to COME FROM our upper chakras, and no longer come from our lower chakras." That arises from a worldview which includes a split between mind and body.

It is even more dangerous to try to LIVE that way, thinking it is "the spiritual way to live." If you are a spiritually-aware person and your life is not working well on the practical level, read on here and you might discover you have some illusions.

The chakras are like the engines of human-embodiment life, transformers stepping down the voltage of higher-vibrational energies into the lower-vibrational energies we need to live our embodied human lives. Like a prism, they break the white light of Divine Light/Life Energy into the colors of the most basic aspects of our functioning. We need every single one to be fully operational, for us to fully function in this life in this world as humans. Spiritual energies are not just located in the heart and higher chakras; spiritual energies are the actual energies of each and every chakra.

Thus, in this perspective, there is no directionality or progression of "holiness" FROM the lower TO the upper chakras. That fallacy of evolution or directionality underlies most of Tantric sexuality practices as well as lots of Eastern religious thought. Each chakra has its own purpose and its own energy that it transforms from higher dimensions to our dimension, and all are equally "spiritual." Each chakra has its own unique frequency which expresses and supports and is the activity of its purpose in our lives.

"No directionality or progression" does not there is not a flow of energy up or down the body from chakra to chakra; clearly there is, and in between as well. The flow of energy up and down the body among the chakras is good, the flow is healthful, the flow needs to be free in BOTH directions. That is simply healthy energybody functioning.

By “no directionality or progression” I mean that the “higher” chakras are not automatically and universally more spiritual, better, more evolved, closer to God or to godliness. Nor are the lower chakras more “base,” or automatically darker, or less refined, less evolved or spiritual, or less godly. Any chakra can be more or less of any of these.

Thus in Tantra, when they talk about taking sexuality as an automatically “lower” vibration –- lower in every sense of the meaning –- and moving it up through the other chakras, refining, ”purifying” it til it reaches the “purest” crown chakra –- that to me is a very mistaken notion. Since each chakra can be its pure version or impure version, going “up” or “down” has nothing to do with purifying or impurifying energy from one chakra to another.

That said, if we use the rainbow color metaphor for chakras, red is certainly a slower vibration than violet, and we normally associate slower vibrations with density, dimness, contractedness, negative emotions, and decreased consciousness, thus less of “godliness.”

So there must be SOME kind of difference between lower and upper chakras, but I will have to say I have not yet concluded what that difference might be.

However, each chakra definitely has its own higher/Light Side/Bright Level and lower/Dark Side/Dim Level vibrational levels of functioning. The bright level has more of the Light of life and existence functioning in us, through us, as us. We glow more with life. Our lives are more vivid, more alive; our lives work better. That's what "brighter" chakra levels do. The “brighter” or more open or clear the chakra, the more of the Divine Being/Light/Love is flowing into and AS the activity/expression of that chakra in the world. "Dim" does not mean "less active;" it means less of the Divine Light/Love energy, just like a dimmer light bulb.

What has happened in the mind-body split is that the lower chakras are characterized as ONLY their dim/dark aspects or levels, and the upper chakras are characterized as ONLY their bright/light aspects or levels. This error, of course, wreaks havoc with our everyday lives and with our spiritual development.

So to say we "must come from our upper chakras and not our lower" opens the door for a life filled with terror, disempowerment, lack of will--a life that doesn't work in this world--and also opens the door for some "very bad" folks who are "coming from" the DARK levels of their upper chakras! Even to say "We must come from the heart" needs specification. Lots of people's hearts are not in a condition or vibrational level we would want THEM to be coming from!

Also, as long as one is alive, all chakras are indeed functioning, though perhaps not very brightly, and perhaps not in their highest vibrational expressions. It is incorrect to assume that people who are functioning with dim lower chakras have no functional upper chakras. Those are just dim, as well!!

There is a widespread nonacceptance of the true purpose, role, and power of the lower chakras. This results in many people not being fully embodied in this body, not fully accepting embodiment, their soul not fully occupying and operating the lower chakras, due to a falsity, an illusion, in the understanding of the nature of these chakras. This is quite handicapping to a good life, a full life.

Because for so long on this plane, the functioning of the lower chakras in humankind in general was even dimmer than the functioning of the heart and upper chakras, there is a widespread illusion now that this difference is intrinsic, that the upper and lower are inevitably incompatible, that there is no Bright or heart-full kind of functioning of the lower chakras nor is there any Dim functioning of the upper chakras.

Nothing could be further from the Truth as I see it. In fact, human embodiments are evolving toward One Chakra, in which all chakras merge and function together as One, not just compatible, not just integrated! It's time to end the illusion of separation and embrace a life that includes the full functioning in full harmony, in full integration, of each and every chakra.

All this is an oversimplification of a complex subject. Below is almost the standard over-simplified list of chakras. There are many more chakras, smaller ones, located at various points all over the body, which I shall not discuss. Also I am not going to discuss how or why chakras get to be bright or dim, and I am not going to discuss the dimness being not only less amount of light but also distortions of light.

CHAKRA LOCATION, NAME, NUMBER	BRIGHT (HIGHER) LEVEL	DIM (LOWER) LEVEL
Tailbone Base First Chakra 1	A sense of living in a world where it is safe to be, and safe to be oneself; the sense of living in a benevolent universe conducive to one's survival and even wellbeing. Feeling one has the right to exist. Enjoying the physical external world, finding it workable, beautiful, and a source of delight and wonder. The sense of having a functional body. Exuberance. "Joy of life." A sense of flowing, of forward movement in life. Groundedness.	Terror, ultimate separateness, insecurity, the sense of living in a malevolent universe. Feeling un-nourished, unsupplied, unsupported. Feeling one has no right to exist. Lack of acceptance of embodiment. The sense of living in an alien or hostile or unfriendly or unworkable world. Rejecting the physical external world. The sense of having a nonfunctional body, or impaired or diminished body. Severe depression. Experiences of starvation, poverty. Paralysis. Experiences of one disaster after another. Chronic diseases. Possibly allergies.
Perineum (not on most chakra charts)	Sexuality as a natural part of life, an expression of life energy, as an arena for caring and even for a spiritual path. Creativity of all kinds. Centeredness.	Sexuality as an arena for playing out dark aspects of other chakras: power games, seeking reassurance, etc. Sexuality disconnected from relationship with others. Sexuality as a life energy repressed and erupting in harmful or illness-producing ways. Lack of vitality.
Below navel Hara Second Chakra 2	Knowing one has the ability to do things and be effective in creating, carrying out or manifesting whatever one wills to do; personal empowerment, the sense one can be efficacious, successful. Unconditional joy. Life Energy Center.	Fear, powerlessness, helplessness, victim-identity. Fear of one's own power from past abuses of power. Frustration. Anger. Seeking "power over" others. Domination through actions. Living through others. Energy vampires. Depression. Feeling dominated. Avoidance of responsibility. Feeling overwhelmed. Life as effortful, struggle. Feeling blocked in life. Feeling defective, broken, deficient. Despair.
Solar Plexus Third Chakra 3	A sense of personal will. The ability to determine and know what one wants. Enthusiasm. Motivation. Self-determination. A healthy "ego." Knowing what is beneficial or harmful to self.	Drifting, being too influenced by others, codependency, alienation from self. Denial of own wants. A dry, "unjuicy" life. Merging into a cult or group and submission to their agenda. Lack of motivation. Living vicariously through children, grandchildren, etc. Not knowing what one wants, thus career-jumping. Putting others always first. Not paying attention to self.
Heart Fourth Chakra 4	Love, connection, caring, relating, belonging. The sense of loving life, the external world, and one's own body. Ability to embrace, to nurture, to protect. All the flavors of human love. Love as a state of Being, not just a human emotion: unconditional love.	Playing the martyr, neediness, emotional unavailability, sense of isolation or disconnection, emotional shielding or numbness. Hating life, the world, one's body. Feeling unworthy.
Throat Fifth Chakra 5	The sense of being safe to and able to express oneself, to communicate, to speak one's truth, to express and manifest what one wills. Talking.	Domination through expression (threats, intimidation) or silence: steamrollering and overriding others' expressions, or withdrawing into one's own world. Extremes of extroversion or introversion. Biting one's tongue. Resentment at self-inhibition of self- expression. Sneaky and indirect communications or expressions.
Forehead Brow Sixth Chakra 6	Wisdom, understanding, insight, mental functioning, knowledge. Ability to "see through another's eyes." Clairvoyance, clairaudience, inner knowing. Inner visions. Visions as plans. Telepathy. Full Listening, full apprehending, full perceiving, and full recognizing.	Psychic attack, black magic. Manipulating others by sleight-of-word and "snow jobs". Dazzling people by mental displays, using intelligence as a weapon. Rationalizing. Guilt. Repression. Judging self and others. Living in the mind, avoiding other levels of experience. Being too deliberate; lack of spontaneity. Control trips (different from power trips.) Mistaking the map for the territory. Righteousness. Feeling bad, wrong, or evil. Self-blame.
Back of head just above neck (not on most chakra charts)	Intuition, guidance from and merging with non-physical Beings such as Guides, channeling, spiritual healing done by full-body channeling of healing Entities	Psychic domination and manipulation of others. Initiation or experience of possession. Deliberate falsification of "reality" to manipulate someone. All the "evil shaman" stuff. (These can all involve the Sixth Chakra as well.)
Top of Head Crown Seventh Chakra 7	Connection with the higher dimensions, cosmic connection, identity as a Larger-than-human Self. Feeling integrated with all of existence. Ultimate "belonging," ultimate support. Ability to accept "what is" and yet be in Ultimate Creativity. Vast perspectives, a cosmic sense of inclusiveness, ability to embrace diversity and apparent paradoxes. Cosmic bliss. Unconditional peace.	Denial of any consciousness above the human mind. Fear of anything above the human mind. "Running on ego," and feeling alone, overwhelmed, exhausted, and terrified by total-responsibility for one's life in a world ultimately out of one's control.

Three important aspects of our functioning are not mentioned above because they are combinations:

Passion (sexual or as extreme enthusiasm/commitment) is probably a combination of perineal, navel, solar plexus, heart, and throat chakras.

Empathy is a combination of heart and forehead as well as probably navel (second) chakras. It is more than the ability to see through others' eyes, because it involves feeling through their hearts and bodies as well.

Compassion is also a combination of heart and forehead chakras. Compassion involves empathetic feeling combined with perspective. Possibly the crown chakra is also a necessary component of true compassion.

Some miscellaneous further thoughts:

I would like to add that sexuality as an expression of multi-dimensional Beingness, when actually integrated with "spirituality," is an all-chakra experience, not just one chakra, not even just the perineal chakra and/or second chakra combined with the heart chakra.

I would also like to say a few more words about the One Chakra mentioned briefly above: as the veils of forgetfulness and illusion are removed from our consciousness and we move back into our natural state of God-realization, the various chakras begin to merge and blend, so that every function is performed all over the body, and cannot be distinctly associated with any particular body part or location. This is a very different experience, which each of us adapts to as part of our individual spiritual evolution.

The interconnectedness of chakras is promoted by their brightness, their healthiness. And interconnectedness, ease and openness of flow, is a healthy thing.

Open vs Closed Chakras

Many people regard a healthy chakra as “open” instead of, or in addition to, being “bright.” I have thought and sensed about that, and I think openness and closedness of a chakra is somewhat related to health, in this sense: a healthy chakra is flexible, can be opened or closed to any degree, with ease and freedom, depending on how appropriate the situation is. There are some situations in which one wants to keep one's energetic radiations/expressions pulled in, and others in which one wants them to radiate out to the max. The only problem is when a chakra gets STUCK open or closed. Does that make sense?

A stuck-open chakra leads to energy drains, lack of appropriate personal boundaries, weakness, ill health. A stuck-closed chakra leads with being withdrawn, ineffective, unpowerful, no empathy, and ill health. That's my impression, anyway.

One can see chakras as clear/blocked, and more or less active, and sometimes energy mostly inward or outward at the moment. These are all metaphors, as is Bright/Dim and open/closed. If a chakra is completely closed/blocked/inactive, I think, the person is not alive! These “engines” are all necessary to being alive. So it's really a matter of degree.

There are circumstances in which it is not appropriate or optimal for a chakra to be operating in outward expression at full blast, and just as our eyes close sometimes, so the chakra decreases the energy of its expression outwardly, while maintaining its full “brightness” inwardly. This is not the same as becoming “dim” in the sense I mean it in this blog. Also closed does not mean “blocked.”

Here's a very brief other kind of description of the main functions of each chakra.

There are many many such descriptions, often very different from one another. These I have adapted from one of my favorite spiritual teachers, Jo Dunning.

These form answers to a series of questions about self and life, starting with the most basic which must be answered first. Each one can be answered only in terms of the answer to the previous one. Each chakra has a unique and valuable function in our lives.

FIRST CHAKRA “I am.”
Will I survive? Am I safe? Will my existence last? Will this embodiment continue to exist for awhile? Will my needs be met? Is the universe in which my embodiment exists friendly, or hostile, or in different to my existence?

SECOND CHAKRA “I can.”
Now that I feel reasonably safe, do I have any ability to do anything? Do I have any influence on anything? Am I empowered to act and change and create?

THIRD CHAKRA “I will.”
If I have the ability to do something, what do I want to do? What do I will? What will or want or desire is being me, flowing through me, seeks expression as me?

FOURTH CHAKRA “I connect.”
Where do others fit into my wanting and willing to do something? How do I take others into account? What is my relationship to others, as I can and I will? What is my feeling-connection to the Whole, as I can and I will?

FIFTH CHAKRA “I express.”

Now that I am safe, and I can, and I will, and I relate in all that, how do I express my will, put it into manifestation? Do I express my abilities and my wants as separate or part of the Whole?

SIXTH CHAKRA “I know.”
What wisdom or knowledge do I bring to bear to shape and influence and help choose my expression? How do I express what I know? Am I expressing blindly, or guided by what I know and by my wisdom, combined with the Larger Wisdom available to me? Do I “know” as separate, or as part of the Whole?

SEVENTH CHAKRA “I AM.”
Am I separate from everything else, or am I – and all of my safety, my ability, my will, my relating, my expressing, and my knowing – in a vast context of which I am one expression and one part? Is my true and largest identity a part of the Whole. How do my safety, my ability, my relating, my expressing, and my knowing embody the Largest Self I AM?

The I AM of Chakra 7 returns to the I am of Chakra 1, but in more Wholeness, more Unity of the embodiment with the All. The I AM self-identity is more than, vaster than, the I am self-identity, but it includes the I am self-identity. Both are equally “true” and equally important.

If I could map this into the chart above, I would, but it seems a different way of looking at the chakras.

by Rev. Alia Aurami, Ph.D., Head Minister, Amplifying Divine Light in All Church

"Amplifying Divine Light in All" is a completely independent church fostering empowerment of people to co-create loving, thriving God-realized lives, and wellbeing for everyone, on a clean, peaceful Earth.

Our main religious purpose and mission is to amplify the Divine Light in everyone. When you read this article, you will agree or disagree with its various points, and then you will know more about what is true for you. Knowing more of your own Truth amplifies your Divine Light. Thus providing/presenting this article is one way for us to accomplish our purpose and mission.

This article and our providing/presenting it are therefore a central and essential part of our exercise and practice of our religion.

None of the contents herein are claimed as absolute truth. They represent one possible perspective which might prove useful for you.

The Healing of Enneagram "One" - Part One

2010-08-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

The Healing of Enneagram Point Number One (of Nine Points)

Key Concept: Perfectionism

Getting to the humor of:
“My only mistake was to think I made a mistake.”

Introduction

This blog entry pretty long, in two separate parts, but I believe some folks will find it helpful, which is my purpose for sharing it. If you never heard of the Enneagram, or don't know what a "One" is, you will probably understand the article quite well anyway. It's all described here.

Please do leave your comments and let's chat about this. Love to know what others' responses are!!!!

As always, this is my perspective, not universal Truth. Sentences might sound general, but I mean them to apply only to whomever they resonate with. I make no claim to know what's right or true for anyone else.

This paper is based on my notes on (and extensive additions to) Dr. Michael J. Lincoln's notes from a class he attended by a famous teacher of the Enneagram, A.H. Almaas. I am a healing One, so this stuff was written to help myself. Perhaps it might help others. The additions are primarily from my own introspection, and a bit from three Enneagram workshops I have attended. I am a student, not an expert at all.

My characterizations of the One are true of me but might not be true of all One’s. (I have been told there are three subtypes, and my subtype is the Survival-concerned.)

This paper was written originally for myself alone, so it is in my own spiritual language/wording. If my words and language don't match yours, please translate, so you can get whatever benefit you might get from reading this, without getting hung up on whether your spirituality and mine are the same. This paper is offered to stimulate your own thinking on this subject, not to foster your agreement with anything in the paper.

Nutshell

“If I were God, I would not have created this this way!”

The Unhealed, Unawakened One

“I am God and I created this exactly this way for a reason and purpose, (even if my human self can't remember what it was) not from error or oversight or ignorance or powerlessness.”

The Healed, Awakened One

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What is the identity of a Point One?

In my belief system, when a soul goes into the illusion of separation from All That Is (which is a choice simply to have that experience,) then from within the illusion it requires an explanation as to why this separation has happened. This is because the soul remembers that things used to be otherwise from the way they are now, yet forgets that the difference results from a choice it made from its Divine Will, as not-separate from the One Will/One Being.

(This forgetting is part of the deal, part of the package, part of the plan.) From within the illusion of separation, it concludes that something is amiss with it or with "God" (All That Is.) The Enneagram Point "One" concludes that It is bad/wrong/incorrect/mistaken somehow, and has to find the way to make itself right in order to get back into All That Is, or into God's good graces (to phrase it in separation language.) This is not necessarily a moral type of bad; it can be “wrong” in the sense of in error, or having made a mistake, or goofed somehow.

But it’s deeper than just having made a goof or error: it’s the identity of being the kind of Being who always by nature will goof or make errors, that this is an inescapable consequence of who one is, in essence or nature. The One experiences itself as a Being who IS wrong/incorrect. That’s the kind of Being it IS, not just a Being who DOES wrong. Often the "wrong" or incorrect actions end up harming self or others. (Other possible conclusions resulting in different Point numbers in the Enneagram are: I am bad/evil/morally reprehensible, or I have been abandoned because God does not love me, or I am defective/broken and have to fix myself. Etc. There are at least 5 more beyond these.)

Thus all of life for Point One is focused on finding the right way, doing the right thing, having the self and all that the self believes it controls, affects, or influences be PERFECT—and finding out what God's idea of "perfect" is, so that can be matched/achieved. I myself am more in the "I am incorrect" mindset than the "I am morally wrong" mindset.

The Enneagram One can also be called The Judger. In my spiritual understanding, The Judger in all of us has a paradoxical role. It is yelling, screaming, calling attention to “There’s something wacky here. This is not THE TRUTH, not the true reality, this is some kind of illusion, it is not in line and in synch with the REALITY I remember, with the Reality I have come from, and with the other realities most of Creation occupies.” For that, we can be grateful. It spurs us to take some action, however misguided, so we do not stay content with pain and suffering.

The other side of the paradox is that the Judger itself is operating within an even deeper illusion: that this imperfect illusion is somehow outside of God’s Will, God’s Creation, or God’s awareness, that this illusory reality is somehow an error, a mistake, ignorance, oversight, laziness, deliberate evil, or stupidity, or we’re in it because we got lost and went astray from God.

Part of the healing and waking up is acknowledging that however yukky this reality seems, it is always, in every moment, and already, 100% God, God’s Will, and God’s Creation. It is a deliberately-designed experience for a purpose and reason.

So while the Judger is even busy judging judging, The Judger and everything being judged are always already nothing but God’s experience. The Judger is calling attention to God’s Self-discovery that such yukky experiences are indeed creat-able! (A great deal more could be said about the value of this discovery of the magnificence of the power of Creation, but that's another paper.)

So while it is calling attention to something wacky, it really doesn’t understand the full picture, and it operates within the illusion that something can be done and something must be done to fix the situation.

I believe that being a One is not a set of beliefs, even of core beliefs. It is experienced as an identity and a reality; it is Who You Are. You are a healed One or an unhealed One, but for an entire transmigration, in my belief system, you are a One. A transmigration I believe to be a cycle of many lifetimes on many planets in many realities in many realms of Creation in which a portion of the Infinite Consciousness condenses into an identity—which stays the same through the whole transmigration, through many bodies and lifetimes—and explores certain characteristics or themes of the Infinite Being.

The One, I believe, is an exploration of the characteristic of the Infinite Consciousness which we label as Divine Will. The exploration consists of trying to pretend, for awhile, that something Divine Will has willed is NOT the Divine’s Will, for purposes of discovering more about the characteristics and qualities of Divine Will—my Infinite Being-Self’s Will. The One’s valuable job is to label as much of its experience as possible as NOT MY WILL AS GOD-SELF, and experience the consequences of that illusion.

It’s the Infinite Consciousness’s way of Self-exploration, Self-discovery, and Self-appreciation: at the end of the transmigration, the aspect of the Infinite Consciousness we might call Divine Will is far better known and far better appreciated than ever before—at least that’s the result as expressed in terms our time-bound minds can understand.

One interesting corollary of my beliefs is that in a sense, everyone who is a One is the same aspect of Divine or Infinite Consciousness, with the same ultimate purpose. Far from being alone, we are like wavelets in a Group Soul ocean!

In my spiritual understanding, because being a One is an identity and a reality far deeper than any particular embodiment, lifetime, or human self, nothing the human self can do in the way of therapy or “healing” can change its Oneness nor “heal” the entire Oneness. The cause, the will, the chooser or decider about what experiences will be had is not located within the embodiment. However, everything the embodiment does is the Will of the Larger Self; that is an extremely profoundly healing realization for any human One.

So we continue to hack away at our false beliefs in our human minds, not because they are wrong or bad or in error (!) but simply because hacking away is what the Divine Will is choosing to do at the moment. The human One gets “healed” (which means its identity switches to Divine Will) when that particular One’s God-Self wills it to become that way, and not sooner. Free Will is a useful illusion in the process, but is in no way a cause of any change. Paradoxical, but for me anyway, a comforting understanding.

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I want to repeat from above and summarize what I’ve just said:

When a soul goes into the illusion of separation from All That Is (which is a choice simply to have that experience,) then from within the illusion it requires an explanation as to why this separation has happened, because the soul ...forgets [the] choice it made.....

The Enneagram Point "One" concludes that It is mistaken/incorrect/wrong somehow, and has to find the way to make itself right... it can be “wrong” in the sense of morally wrong, or in error, or having made a mistake, or goofed somehow.... a Being who IS wrong..., not just a Being who DOES wrong.

Thus all of life for Point One is focused on finding the right way, doing the right thing, having the self and all that the self believes it controls, affects, or influences be PERFECT.

Therefore, the “cure” for a Point One is ultimately when the soul (notice: not the embodiment. The embodiment is not at cause) releases the illusion of separateness. Then nothing requires an explanation, because nothing has happened, and the soul knows all choices are and always have been made by it in Divine Will; it knows that Divine Will is The Chooser of everything all the time, even if the embodiment doesn't realize that.

So because there is no separation, nothing is amiss. It was important for me in my healing to notice that the solution for a One is not to counteract “I am wrong” with “I am right.” That still operates within the illusion of separation and duality. The solution for a One is the realization that the illusory separate self is not a cause of the experienced (but illusory) separation. It is not a cause, and its experience is not a reality. So being right or wrong is a non-issue.

The ultimate grounds for the healing of the One is to know that it was operating out of a falsity. That falsity is the experience of separation, which seems to require an explanation. That explanation would be an illusion, the illusion of "wrongness."

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Characteristics which flow from this identity which make up the life of an “unhealed” Point One

1. Trying to fix self to compensate. Perfectionism often imposed by Mother.

2. Suppression, hiding, lying about, ignoring, denying, repressing, stuffing of all that is deemed imperfect in any way from anyone’s perspective, about the self. This results in massive giving away of power, and some codependency.

3. Feeling constantly overwhelmed and invalidated. There is too much to be done to achieve perfection: too much to do, too little time, too little information, too much uncertainty, too few resources, too little health, energy, and stamina for the infinite task.

4. Always looking for the rules and the Right Way. This pertains even to the minutiae of life, so it is actually operating every second of every day about every tiny aspect of life: Is it the Right Way it ought to be? Gets locked into “forms,” formats, ways, rigid structures of behavior. Obviously a control freak.

5. Highly authoritarian. Sometimes is the person kowtowing to authority and sometimes IS the authority.

6. Always referring to the past as a guide for the present. Not much interest in the future except to predict possible disasters/imperfections and to do whatever is conceivably possible (whether feasible, healthful, or friendly or not) to prevent them.

7. A security freak. No interest in risk-taking, could do it wrong way.

8. Hypercritical of self and others. Always blaming. Nothing is ever good enough. “I am in pain. I must be doing something wrong. It is possible to know what I am doing wrong, and do what is right, but I can’t seem to find out; it is impossible for me to know what I am doing wrong, and do what is right, so I must be doing something monumentally wrong, compared to the people who seem to be able to know, to fix things, and to stop suffering, and I don’t seem to be able to find out what that is, so.....”

9. A fierce, unrelenting, unrealistic SuperEgo/conscience. Megalomaniacal in demands on and expectations of self, or so it seems to other people. In every moment blaming self, as in “I should have known better. Things are less than perfect now because I goofed and I should have known better, I could have known better, and I was oblivious or lazy, or.....” In other words, the One has delusion of grandeur about what he or she can possibly do! This is part of the Pride described below.

10. Uptight. Rigid. Controlled. Tense. No flowingness, limited spontaneity. Not very flexible in plans or procedures.

11. Feels the self's essence is bad, but the Ego is in "reaction-formation" and is always believing how good it is. Often a superficial sense of self-awareness combined with complete obliviousness to true deep subconscious motivations. The way the One sees self is often very different from the way others perceive that person.

12. No joy, fun, pleasure. These are irrelevant at best, and they are bad and dangerous at worst. They are distractions from the task of being perfect, meeting all of self-imposed and other-imposed expectations, no matter how impossible. Fun, joy, and pleasure can lull one into a false sense of security, lead one into ignoring tasks or dangers, and can instantly plunge one into total disaster or death. (I should know, because I have died innumerable times in my past lives from carelessness, lack of caution, getting carried away by fun or exuberance or spontaneity, not playing it safe. Also of course I have died many times from ignorance, obliviousness, not knowing the best or right way. That’s the kind of experience the One illusions/beliefs create.)

13. A deep self-distrust, manifesting or appearing in a variety of specific versions: distrust of one's intuition, of one's mind, or one's feelings, or of other people, or of any of various of one's abilities or characteristics. For me, it’s “I ought to have known better.” That operates in every circumstance experienced every second of every day. It also means I cannot trust myself to know or discern truth, which is highly sabotaging of life, growth, and spiritual evolution. Self-distrust also leads to inhibiting expressions of feelings, to suppressing of spontaneity, and to needing to control self.

14. Lots of anger, bitterness, disgust, and resentment, smoldering or expressed. Or repressed, if too dangerous-seeming. The One is angry for a variety of reasons. One reason is resentment of the drudgery of having to monitor the self all the time. Another is resentment at being controlled all the time, even though it is the self which is controlling itself. This particular resentment can lead to occasional rebellious moments of being sloppy, free, spontaneous, and uninhibited.

Because life is a self-fulfilling prophecy, these moments usually create a lot of trouble, get the person into trouble, so these rebellious moments are always followed by guilt, even by terror.

Another source of anger is resentment of and bitterness toward other people because they seem to “get away with” a carefree and sloppy, imperfect life which the One cannot permit himself or herself. This is related to the very natural and healthy anger of a human being deprived of fun, joy, and pleasure in life, and also being deprived of personal authenticity. In other words, the One is also angry at having to “stuff” or suppress or repress his or her natural and true feelings, thoughts, impulses, in deference to whatever feelings, thoughts, and impulses are “right.”

Also the One blames and is angry and disgusted with self for failing to achieve perfection, and even though it seems contradictory part of the One is also angry at being asked to be impossibly perfect, for feeling like the victim of a slavedriver with an infinite task. Oh, the One has many sources of anger!

15. A driving compulsive need to fix everything and everyone who comes into their life. This is rationalized as a reasonable desire to be helpful to others, which is quite approved by our society. Rescuer to all. The One can’t tolerate others’ making their own mistakes, having their own experiences, if the One can see how they could and should be healed, fixed, improved.

Pride in ability to know what others need, and what others ought to be like. Can’t stand being around someone who is suffering without trying to help them out of it. Annoyed with people who will not accept help or don’t want to “get better.” One thinks improving the world is up to them. Always proud of healing, helping, teaching, fixing, whether the person wanted it or not.

Even while complaining of the suffering or pain they are experiencing in their attempts to improve others, they are experiencing a deep and possibly subconscious sense of satisfaction and pride in this suffering and pain as a badge of their commitment to being a Fixer.

16. Alone. The One feels alone in at least three ways: Alone in my iniquity, my goof, my error, my wrongness; “I am the only soul who is like this.” Alone in my desire to change/improve the world. And alone because there is no one who can help me, reach me, nurture me. One’s often also feel alone in that no one can advise or teach them, because they are know-it-all’s who know best how things should be.

17. Not only are One’s know-it-all authoritarians, but they have the Deadly Sin version of Pride: “I know better than the GodCreator how things should be.” This necessarily follows from believing that things should be other than what they are! This also goes along with the pride in “I could have known better” and the other megalomaniacal (unrealistically prideful) expectations and demands on the Self.

18. In my case, there was a profound, pervasive, cellular-level shame or embarrassment from the sense of myself as having made a goof, an error, a mistake. This was as deep as, or even deeper than, any fearfulness, any self-distrust, any anger, or any pain. It was the kind of embarrassment which makes a person blush.

19. A constant sense of oppression, from the every-second sense that "I am not doing the Right Thing." Remember those quiz shows on TV years ago, where a buzzer sounds if the contestant gives a wrong answer? In a One, the buzzer never stops. Never. Not for one second each day. There was no moment in which some part of me was not saying I was doing, thinking, saying, or feeling something that was wrong/erroneous somehow, in some way. The day I had that insight, I cried with self-compassion for the unrelenting oppression, pressure, sense of being beaten down, this constant buzzer-in-the-head brings. What a way to try to live!

20. Resistance to help and to "miraculous" healing. Wow, was this a big discovery late in the game. The resistance comes from the following erroneous belief: If someone helps me, or if I achieve something through Divine Grace, then I don't get any "Brownie Points" with God to help end this separation that occurred because I did something the wrong way, because I still haven't done "it" the right way. This resistance, by a twisted logic, even pertains to my actual healing, which is therefore mightily resisted, prevented, not allowed. The unhealed One mind predicts: Whatever happens might happen because my helper "did it," or because Divine Grace/Power did it, so I wouldn't have "done it right," and therefore I won't have finally "done it right myself" and therefore I either won't get the healing or I won't deserve the healing. This twisted logic and resistance are subtle, and their discovery was a breakthrough.

21. A pervasive and life-eroding constant sense of dissatisfaction, of discontent. Things might be good, or rarely "just right," but basically everything is in a state and condition of "It ought not to be the way it is," as a 24/7 every-second experience of every "it" in my awareness. This sense, this experience, is exhausting. And it precludes feeling at home in life or in the Universe.

22. The flip side of "It ought not to be the way it is" is also a constant experience: "It ought to be this other way instead." (And I am solely responsible for making it to be this other way. This is true for every "it" in my experience or awareness.) This creates need, pressure, and extreme inauthenticity. This too is a life-eroding constant state every second of every day and night. It precludes "Being in the Now."

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continued in Part Two

by Rev. Alia Zara Aurami-Sou, Ph.D., Head Minister, "Amplifying Divine Light in All" Church

This blog entry, its contents and its presentation, are an essential and central practice of our religion.

The Healing of Enneagram "One" - Part Two

2010-08-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

The Healing of Enneagram One - Part Two,

continued from Part One

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Some of the Many Gifts from These Experiences

When a Point One has "healed," moved into the Larger Consciousness, become "enlightened," or God-realized, or however you want to describe the Awakening process, certain valuable qualities become the unique gifts of the "One." These involve reclaiming One’s identity as Divine Will, and allowing Divine Will to be one’s reality or universe as well. You could say that the aspect of the illusion of Separateness which the One has most intimately been exploring is the illusion of a separate Will.

It is important to realize the preciseness of the terminology here: these are gifts from the experiences, not cures for it. In other words, trying to achieve these states can be interesting and useful, but does not cause the healing, the awakening. Healing and awakening are effects of the cause, which is simply a choice by the Spirit to harvest the wisdom from, or realize the gifts in, the experience of an unhealed One. After that choice is made, changes occur, and the apparent causes in the material plane could be any of a variety of “self-healing” techniques.

It is important for me to have you realize that I am not writing this paper to tell you The Right Way to “get healed.” I am not saying if you do these “affirmations” and cultivate these qualities you will be healed. That would put you at cause. I am simply describing what happens during the transition back to the Truth of nonduality and Divine Will, so you can notice and appreciate where you are now, and what might happen to you as you proceed. I am describing in this paper thoughts and feelings you might observe, not things you ought to do. The difference is very important for me to realize.

Some of unique gifts include:

1. Vision: The ability to always see how anything could be “improved” or “better”—by some standard which is specified and which is relevant and appropriate and desired by all concerned.

2. A nose for anything out of place, out of harmony, out of synch in a pattern, in a situation, in anything.

3. Ability to play “the game:” to function within any particular set of rules in any context.

4. The ability to see “the downside” of any plan, proposal, or situation, to see potential risks.

5. Excellent task-orientation, ability to concentrate and focus on a task til done.

6. Interest in and talent for finding the most efficient way to accomplish a desired end.

7. Compassion, teamwork, respect for others, acceptance of self and others just as they are.

8. A sense of the past, of history, and its relevance to, and possible contribution to, the present.

9. Knowing a lot about a lot (from having learned “the right way” in a lot of areas and situations of life,) so can serve as a resource for those who have a desired outcome or goal. Want to know the best, most efficient, most effective way to do ANYTHING? Ask a One!!! :) Have something you want improved? Ask a One!!! :)

10. Consciously-cultivated and hard-won gratitude at the way things are; can see how anything could be for the best. A sense of the “rightness” of the way things are, and a deep peacefulness around that--these are not incompatible with a passionate vision and desire that things be, in my opinion, better, but knowing that it’s just my opinion.

After realizing that there is no Separation, so nothing is amiss, the chronic dissatisfaction of the unhealed One is replaced by a profound relaxation of previous chronic physical and mental tension states, by contentment/acceptance, and by full multi-dimensional awareness and understanding about "what is" and why it is the way it is. Awareness and understanding, contentment/acceptance and relaxation, make appreciation and enjoyment possible. Life become easier and more joyful.

11. Can happily and easily create procedures manuals and other precise, detailed, rule-oriented, “right/best-way-to-do-it”-oriented materials.

12. A sense of fairness, knowing when someone is not playing by agreed-upon rules.

13. Ability to “go with the flow,” to be without expectations. Ability to be “out of control.”

14. Ability to see all sides, aspects, or angles, so refraining from judgment about what is “right.” This includes Humility, in the thoughts “Actually I don’t have enough information about this infinitely complex situation to say what would be an improvement, except from my own perspective. Infinite Mind, which created this to be this way and not any other possible way right now, knows infinitely more about the situation than I do, and also has reasons and purposes I have no clue about, so who am I to tell God how to do this 'better?'"

15. An inspiration to others as an example of having the guiding question of life be “How would this proposed activity bring me joy, or express my Life Purpose, or help create my Vision of my Ideal World?” rather than “How would this proposed activity help me or others achieve Perfection in this matter?” In other words, “Does this bring me joy?” becomes the Guiding Question in life, rather than “Is this right?” You cannot imagine what a radical shift in moment-to-moment feeling-tone of life this change in Guiding Question brings, and what a relief!

16. Unusually high standards, especially for competence, but tempered with fairness, reasonableness, being realistic, and knowing when something is “good enough” for the purpose at hand.

17. Ability to stand by with compassion and let others “make their own mistakes” without needing to correct, heal, educate, or otherwise interfere in any way. This comes from knowingness that whatever a person is experiencing, it is their soul's choice to have that experience; my attempt to help might or might not be part of the script. I learned to distinguish what I COULD do from what I am CALLED to do in a given situation in which help seems needed--no matter what the situation is, even if it is life-threatening.

18. Humility and Courage rather than Pride and Certainty. The willingness to go by Guidance or Divine Will rather than what I believe or think that I know. The willingness to entertain the possibility that things might just be some way other than what I KNOW they ARE. Wow. Becoming non-attached to what I thought I knew about everything in every moment was the most profound, most “difficult” aspect of healing my One Self. That seemed the most foolhardy, most dangerous, most insane thing for me to do: to give up my hard-won knowledge of what the dangers were and how to prevent or cope with them, hard-won through many many lifetimes!!

The unhealed Enneagram One could not exist without the thoughts “I know I am doing this wrong or imperfectly. I know I did that wrong or imperfectly. I know that what I am seeing right now is wrong or could and should be improved. I know this needs to be better.”

This is healing-change is different from giving up. It is “Hmm, I can see how this could be improved, could be better, and there is nothing at stake for the eternal 'me' in whether that is accomplished or not. It has no ultimate significance for me whether that is done or not. It doesn’t mean anything about me. It means nothing for or against my life and wellbeing, whether this situation or person gets improved according to my vision. Whatever I choose to do about my Vision for this particular situation or person is coming from Divine Will, from Divine Guidance, and feels like a preference, a joy, rather than something that needs to be done or ought to be done.”

One might say that the Enneagram Point One is based on judgment, the essence of judgment, and this giving up of KNOWING (which is entirely different from knowingness, which comes from our whole multidimensional consciousness and is not particularly mental) means and implies and is based on the giving up of judgment, of judging. How can you judge if you don’t think you know that what you are judging could or should be other than what it is?

Possibly the One is most deeply attached to KNOWING, more than anything else. Giving up knowing would be the One’s deepest fear. For myself, what I most deeply believe as an unhealed One is that "If I were God, I would not have created this this way, so I am not God," and perhaps even "God has goofed here."

19. There seem to be stages in letting go of my need to do things the right way, and relaxing into humility. First I got into a totally hopeless depressed panic: "I am convinced that I will never be ABLE to do everything the right way. It is an impossible, overwhelming task"—which it indeed is! Then I knew my EGO was giving up, and that was a good thing. Then, later, arrives the conviction: "Well, that doesn't matter because I don't NEED to do everything the right way."

And in between those two stages, of course, I knew intellectually that the second thought was REALLY the RIGHT WAY, and that the first thought is not the right way, so I got down on myself about that. Sigh.

20. I did not find it possible to let go of what I KNOW is the way things SHOULD BE without moving from the core belief that I live in a dangerous universe into the core belief that I live in a benevolent universe. There is no need for any should’s or ought’s, in a forgiving, loving, supportive, nourishing, nurturing, tolerant, compassionate, healing Universe which always offers a fresh start in every moment, always offers a second and third chance at anything, and in which nothing prevents anything from happening or being manifested. The malevolent-universe premise is necessary to support the Enneagram One illusion. In a benevolent universe it is not possible to believe “I goofed and that is why I am now separate from All That Is, why I am now in pain and suffering, and why others are in pain and suffering because of me.”

21. After realizing there is no Separation, so nothing is amiss, the One experiences a deep sense of relief at not having to always search for the right way, at not always having to adapt to some standard outside the self, a relief at being OK with whatever are the feelings and thoughts of the moment. There is a sense of personal authenticity and personal empowerment which were missing before, because personal feelings, thoughts, and desires were always suppressed in favor of whatever was supposed to be the right way to think, feel, and act.

When I am inauthentic, I am disconnected from my source of personal power, because I am disconnected from my full multi-dimensional Creator GodSelf and I have no deep connection with the rest of What Is. Authenticity makes possible peace, clarity, spontaneity, and a deep connection with What Is.

22. “If there is no Right Way, then I am a helpless victim.” In healing, the One discovers how to get outside of that false alternative, how to get outside that box. The Third Alternative way of living, not by The Right Way and not as a helpless victim, is as a Divine Vehicle and Miracle Worker: to experience a desire, intention, or want, to know that this is the leading edge of its manifestation process, and to allow the rest of the process to proceed by simply being in intuitive Knowingness of what to do and when to do it, and how to do it, so the desire or intention manifests in experience. Sometimes action is involved and sometimes it manifests like a Miracle, through Divine Grace.

Having to do things The Right Way is unbalanced masculine energy. Being a helpless victim is unbalanced female energy. Being a Divine Vehicle and Miracle Worker is being a co-creator, or acknowledging one’s creatorship on every level of the Self, from embodiment to the All-pervading Consciousness some call God. This third alternative is balanced masculine and feminine ways of going about life.

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A few examples of Healing Affirmations for a One

Remember that trying to believe these will not cause the healing. But wanting to affirm them is evidence that the Spirit of the One has decided to have the experience of being a “healed” One, though being an unhealed One is a deliberate choice, not an error, not an indication of anything being wrong. So “healing” is really not the best term. It is just a change, just another choice.

These are not thoughts that cause healing. They are thoughts that, if you resonate with them, indicate that healing is already underway. If you don’t resonate with them, but feel like affirming them, then healing is also already underway. If you don’t resonate with them and forget this section, then healing is not yet that far underway with you that these would be relevant for you. That’s all they mean.

There cannot ever even exist such a thing as The Right Way because everything is in every moment just a choice.

Nothing matters

Nothing needs to be done

Not anything should be done

Not anything must be done

Not anything has to be done

Not anything (nothing) needs to be any particular way

It is OK to be relaxed about getting things done

Nothing to prove, nothing at stake

What if everything is fine just as it is,

even if I don't know how that could be true ?

I am on vacation

I accept.

I allow.

I choose now my Life Vision

I Will now my Life Vision

I have all the time in the world.

I want to do these things.

I prefer to do these things.

I choose to do these things.

I choose whatever has the Energetic Signature of Spirit right now.

What if things are not the way I KNOW they ARE?

What if I live in a benevolent universe right now?

I know that I know not!

I can do no wrong.

I never did anything wrong.

I really don’t know enough to know how this should be improved, even though I have my opinion!

I have a strong opinion on this matter, but there is a Big Picture operating which it is impossible for me to know completely, so I really can’t KNOW that my opinion is correct or for the best.

Short version: One Will.

Long version: There has never been and there cannot be any such thing as a will separate or apart from, against or contrary to, or outside of, the Divine Will, the Creator’s Will, God’s Will, the Will of the aggregate Consciousness which is All That Is. My personal will and the will of every Being is not and never has been and cannot be separate or apart from, against or contrary to, or outside of, the Divine Will, the Creator’s Will, God’s Will, the Will of All That Is. Therefore everything is the way it "ought" to be and nothing needs to be any other way.

My Larger Consciousness has access to facts which my human mind does not have access to. So I am happy to let my mind, with its opinions of how things ought to be, defer to the Authority who has more facts.

This person is perfect. This person doesn’t need fixing by me.

All experiences are equally valuable to the Creator. All are just part of the Creator's Self-Discovery, Self-Exploration, Self-Appreciation. That's the purpose of all experiences.

Nothing that is, is the way it is, due to an oversight or goof or powerlessness or ignorance or evil or laziness or forgetfulness on the part of the Creator. Everything is just a choice.

I choose to be humble, here.

I really don't know how things should be, here.

I am not privy to the Infinite Mind here. Only the Infinite Mind knows.

I have the courage to allow things to flow organically, rather than imposing my own ideas.

I choose contentment. I choose acceptance. I choose to be relaxed. I choose to be authentic. I choose peace.

Even though I might believe I am doing something early or late, in fact everything happens in Diving Timing which is coordinated and synchronized in the Cosmic Web for the optimal manifestation of my GodSelf’s Highest Vision of Heaven on Earth.

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Closing Comments

I hope any Enneagram Ones reading this paper will generate their own Healing Affirmations based on whatever thoughts in the text above they resonate with. But I am not attached to that happening. I don’t need that to happen. : > )

I invite feedback from all readers which might be helpful to me or future readers of this paper.

I want to reiterate that I have not done much reading about Enneagram Ones. This paper is based mostly on my own experiences.

I would be thrilled if other Enneagram Points got inspired by this paper to write their own parallel papers, so I could learn more about them.

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Suggested Further Reading

BEST BOOK OF ALL: The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram by Sandra Maitri.

One of the most useful and important spiritual books ever written, in my opinion. Just reading it is a profoundly healing experience. This paper was written before I read it, and has not been fully integrated with it.

The Enneagram by Helen Palmer

The Pocket Enneagram by Helen Palmer—great place to begin

The Enneagram in Love and Work by Helen Palmer

The Enneagram Made Easy by Renee Baron and Elizabeth Wagele—good second book

Are You My Type? Am I Yours? by Renee Baron and Elizabeth Wagele

Enneagram Summary by Michael J. Lincoln, Ph.D. Available through me.

The Spiritual Side of the Enneagram by Michael J. Lincoln, Ph.D. Available through me.

I find The Work of Byron Katie healing, as a One, because in her seminars and writings and tapes, she always issues the challenge to any feeling, thought, belief: "Is it true? Can you really know it's true?" As an unhealed One, I was absolutely convinced I knew what was Right and True. It's great to challenge this at the deepest level. Byron Katie's website is www.thework.org . Phone 877-5-TheWork.

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A few further thoughts

The Enneagram has nothing to do, as far as I can tell, with Myers-Briggs or any other descendant of the original Jungian typology. What you are in one system isn't related to what you are in another system.

Also, even though it is usually presented as a "personality" typology, the Enneagram is actually a soul typology. If you study it at the personality level, it doesn't seem to make much sense, hang together, or be easy to learn and remember. The cohering point (no pun intended) is on the soul level, and is not to be found in the plethora of complex personality details.

The most common answers to some Frequently Asked Questions about the Enneagram are: No, you are only one "point" but you have "wings" which flavor you from the points on either side of you in the Enneagram circle. And your Enneagram point is not a "choice" of your human self and it does not change during your lifetime. In fact, it does not change over many lifetimes; it is your focus of exploration for an entire "transmigration."

And you cannot at all assess someone's Point from their behavior. The motive is more important. The motive of the motive is even more telling!

Example: A bunch of us at an Enneagram workshop sitting around at lunch, someone says they want to be a midwife BECAUSE they are a Point Such and Such. We all started to compare notes. Of the 5 different types we were, there were 5 different motivations we'd have for becoming a midwife. Mine was – guess what – that a midwifed natural childbirth is the RIGHT/CORRECT/OPTIMAL (= natural, in this case) way to do it!!! Nothing to do for me with being nurturing, or whatever!!! That was a revealing conversation!!!!

Here's a website which seems an easy place to start learning: http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/

This article is not presented or intended as a conceptual summary. It is presented and intended as taking someone through the experience with me. As such, all the words and the details are meant to add up to the reading itself being therapeutic for folks. In other words, I am not after “conveying an essence.” My purpose is different from that.

Besides which, I originally wrote this for myself, so it's my words, the way I think. Now that I am sharing it, the purpose of an experiential therapeutic reading takes over. My purpose is not “presentation of thoughts.” It's kinda like the purpose of a trilogy, or a guided imagery session, or a sensory-immersion piece of writing. Kinda hypnotic, one might say. Or at least, aimed at far more than the left-brain…….

If other One's don't recognize themselves in my paper, it's either because the description needs honing OR perhaps because they are a different subtype, such as the social subtype or the other one I forget what it's called. It would be most fascinating if someone wrote a book about the joys and frustrations of the interactions between healed and unhealed version of each pair of types! I think actually perhaps some books approach that, the ones on relationships….. I can see that a 9 would be a handy dandy little resource for a 1 to have around when the 1 gets too steam-rollerish and righteous!!! LOL !!!

The following thoughts emerged in conversation with a friend:

As described in Part One of this paper, Enneagram Points arise when the soul needs to explain to itself why its experience has changed so radically from the unity and bliss it remembers, to the present state of suffering. Its explanation ("I made a mistake" -- for the One) gives rise to an inferred solution: "Search for x, find x, be x way, and you'll be back to your unity with God." (I must correct my mistake and be perfect.) Something is missing, something has to be searched for, the self has to change in some way.

But in truth, the "problem" doesn't even exist, and in positing a solution, one ensures the problem will never be solved. What's "missing" is not the solution, but the realization that there never was a problem to begin with.

In other words, "healing" is not achieving the "solution" (such as becoming perfectly correct.) Healing is understanding that the perception of separation from God was an illusion; as such, it dissolves upon knowing the truth. One does not have to heal a dream in order to wake up from it.

The key word in realizing the truth is "unconditional." As in unconditional Love, which is inherent in one's Beingness, not requiring anything except to be. Unconditionalness is a far more radical notion than most people realize. "Unconditional" means there are no barriers to unity, and nothing to achieve. It is always already the case.

Or the key word might be "unity." The need for perfection, the issue of perfection, only comes up in the context of the belief in "separation" from God. When that separation is seen as an illusion, poof goes the need for perfection, or correctness, or anything else designed as a strategy to re-attain unity.

Or the key word might be "choice" -- the realization that the time spent in the illusion of separation was a choice made by God, and thus by the Spirit of that soul. As a choice, the illusion was not a problem requiring a solution. It merely disappears upon the making of a different choice, to no longer be in the illusion of separation.

If the unity is always already and still the case, no problem exists, no strategy is needed to solve it.

Rev. Alia Zara Aurami-Sou, Ph.D., Head Minister, "Amplifying Divine Light in All" Church

This blog entry, its contents and its presentation, are an essential and central practice of our religion.

Heresy about the Creative Power of Words and Thoughts

2010-08-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

Heresy about the Creative Power
of Words and Thoughts

I've been evoked into finally putting into words one of my constant "heresies" among New Age thinking. This is on the topic of using the principle of the Law of Attraction, "like attracts like" to suggest we need to be thought-police or word-police for ourselves, lest by uttering the "wrong" ones we create what we DON'T want. There are many folks living in fear of their own thoughts and words, and to me this leads to suffering and is counter-productive, as I describe below

So let me try to explain my viewpoint on this matter.

First, think of the principles "Energy follows attention/thought." "Like attracts like." I see them as half-truths, because oversimplifications.

For the same reason, I don't advocate the wording "Our thoughts create our reality." I advocate that "How we are vibrating, most especially which vibrations we regard as REAL or REALITY, creates or amplifies those vibrations in our experienced reality."

And an emotion is a far stronger vibration than a thought -- even a subconsciously held emotion, outside conscious awareness, is a stronger vibration than a mere cognitive thought held just in the mind. Attention, mere attention, noticing, awareness, witnessing, is less strong that a thought, or it's stronger, depending on the identity one has. That's a layer of complexity I won't go into here.

So as I see it, creative power is actually in some complex combination of the vibrational frequencies of thoughts, words, attention, emotions, intention, what is regarded without question as "reality," and the identity one regards as "self."

That's the briefest summary of my view.

So I believe it is possible to speak of things you don't want, without imparting any creative energy to them whatsoever. But it's tricky to do so. Like attracts like boils down to the mechanism that what you focus attention on with emotional energy, is what you amplify the reality of. Or, more basically, what you regard and treat as "real" is what becomes real for you. So it's not the words or the thoughts per se which have the creative power, it's how you are vibrating wrt their "reality."

You can, for purposes of creating more of what you DO want in your reality, give brief attention via words and thoughts to what you don't want more of, WHILE IN THE EMOTION AND REALITY AND INTENTION AND IDENTITY VIBRATION OF WHAT YOU DO WANT. So the like you are attracting is your overall vibration.

Thus, for example, you could talk about the current undesired reality as a PHASE OF a future desired reality. "This is what is now, and it is inevitably moving into the desired future, it is PART OF that future, seen as the timeline of events leading to that future."

Totally ignoring the present too easily slips into denial, and denial, paradoxically, is a rather powerful form of energy and attention, which has creative power!!

Also, fear of one's own thoughts or words, or fear of others' thoughts and words, is a sure path to suffering, in addition to having the opposite of the desired/intended effect.

These are my perspectives on this matter. It's pretty subtle and complex, but I have read and encountered other folks with these perspectives (i.e. I certainly didn't invent anything so subtle and complex, haha.)

A good current version is at http://tomkenyon.com/jumping-time-lines

So I am not saying don't go ahead and make changes in your languaging, I'm just saying the matter is a bit more complex than that. The simplest procedure is just to shift one's language, with the caveat of danger of getting into ignoring or denial, fear about the current condition, or fear about the effects of one's words or thoughts about it, which will actually backfire and create the exact effect one was trying to avoid creating!!!!!

Again, this is just my take on the matter. What's yours?

by Rev. Alia Aurami, Ph.D.

This blog entry is presented and provided to you by"Amplifying Divine Light in All" Church.

Our main religious purpose and mission is to amplify the Divine Light in everyone.
When you look at this blog entry, you will agree or disagree with its various points, and then you will know more about what is true for you. Knowing more of your own Truth amplifies your Divine Light.
Thus providing/presenting this blog entry is one way for us to accomplish our purpose and mission. This blog entry, its contents and our providing/presenting it are therefore an essential and integral part of our exercise and practice of our religion.
None of the contents herein are claimed as absolute truth. They represent one possible perspective which might prove useful for you.
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The Gaia Minute Worldwide Meditations

2010-05-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

The Gaia Minute Worldwide Meditations

This is one of many grassroots activities helping people participate in transforming our world through sharing spiritual energy focus. Our church regards The Gaia Minute as one of our ministries.

Participation can be quickly and easily woven into your daily life. You can take part for as long as you wish, whenever you wish, for no money if you wish. What's most powerful is the simultaneous focused energy and attention from many people.

The primary goal of the project is to have at least 2000 people in every one of the 24 time zones meditating/praying with loving energy and attention focused on Gaia, simultaneously at 9:09 AM and /or 9:09 PM their local time.

The basic ways to participate are:

1. Each day at 9:09 AM and/or 9:09 PM, and/or :09 after any hour of the day or night, stop for a minute and send your prayers/intentions/love/visualizations/imaginings to Mother Earth, in whatever fashion you choose, for however you imagine your Ideal World would be. Know that at :09 past any hour, you are joining with others in the two time zones where it is 9:09.

2. Make increased Gaia awareness part of your daily life, in whatever ways work for you.

3. Join in the weekly worldwide conference telephone call, Mondays at 9:00 AM Mountain Time USA (GMT - 7.) The number is 1-218-862-1300, and then when prompted you put in the Conference Code numbers 855676. The call begins with everyone saying Hello, then at 9:09 AM the line is muted and the guided meditation/prayer is spoken, and recorded for later posting.

4. You can hear the recordings of the calls posted and archived here: http://gaiaminute.ning.com/page/the-gaia-minute-call You might have to join there, Gaia Minute's Ning Network, to access the calls.

5. Twitter about the endeavor. Talk about it with your friends and in your spiritual groups. When you join the Ning Network, you can get the "badge" below, and post it in your online communities.

Visit The Gaia Minute*

The primary website is http://gaiaminute.ning.com. The far right menu tab at the top of the pages is SiteMap and we suggest you start there!!

Here are some links:

The Gaia Minute (TheGaiaMinute) on Twitter The Gaia Minute* initiative is a world-wide call to collective prayer initiated in Sept 2009 by Swami Eli. Tweets by Meenakshi from The Gaia Minute* ...twitter.com/TheGaiaMinute - Cached - Similar

Twitter / @SLSRZ777/the gaia minute

Twitter is without a doubt the best way to share and discover what is happening right now.
twitter.com/SLSRZ777/the-gaia-minute - Cached

Show more results from twitter.com

Gaia Minute
5 min - Nov 18, 2009
www.youtube.com

The Gaia Minute Practice - Humanity Healing Network

1 post - Last post: Apr 17

It is called The Gaia Minute and there is a Ning group devoted to it. ... Here is a link to that recording - Week 30 Gaia Minute Guided ...
humanityhealing.ning.com/group/.../topics/the-gaia-minute-practice - Cached

This blog entry is presented and provided to you by "Amplifying Divine Light in All" Church.

Our main religious purpose and mission is to amplify the Divine Light in everyone. When you read this blog entry, you will agree or disagree with its various points, and then you will know more about what is true for you. Knowing more of your own Truth amplifies your Divine Light.
Thus providing/presenting this blog entry is one way for us to accomplish our purpose and mission. This blog entry and our providing/presenting it are therefore an integral part of our exercise and practice of our religion.
Nothing in this article is claimed as absolute truth. It represents one possible interpretation or perspective or model of thinking which might prove useful for you.
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We invite your comments and responses!

"There is/is not a God"

2010-03-10T22:39:00.000-08:00

"There is/is not a God."

This article is in the form of a dialogue with someone who is asserting either of the above, or pondering the “truth” or “falsity” of either statement or trying to decide whether they agree or disagree with either one.

The viewpoints in this article are just viewpoints, not truth. Perhaps useful in your own explorations of your own spirituality.

And for sure this is not all I could say on the subject.. You might want to check out "Who God Is" for another perspective.

First of all, since there are literally millions of purported descriptions, ideas, concepts or “experiences” of “God,” which one do you mean? Either statement is meaningless – neither true nor false nor capable of being assessed as true or false or capable of being agreed or disagreed with -- unless that is specified, doncha think?

If you specify what you mean by “God,” then there might be able to be a conversation.

However, second of all, most descriptions or specifications include that God is infinite, omnipresent, and ineffable. Those by definition make any meaningful languaging about God impossible. God is thus beyond language, so any kind of conversation we might have on the subject would be only what some teachers call “pointing,” and others call grunts and heavy breathing! Or poetry, which is cool. And “God” would even be beyond our limited, finite MINDS, so that too makes conversing as well as “thinking about” God a bit problematical, doncha think?

Third, if God is infinite and omnipresent, then first of all there is not “a” God. And second of all, since nothing is not-God, then “is” becomes a problematical concept. To say “God is” or “There is a God” becomes the tautological statement “Existence exists.”

Fourth, if God is infinite and omnipresent, then “there” becomes meaningless, both in reference to place, and as a pointer to something. What could one be pointing to? Who would be pointing? “Here is a God” would be equally valid and invalid to say. Here and there are opposites and require contrast. If God is infinite and omnipresent, there is nothing which is contrast.

Fifth, and what about “God/dess?” If God is infinite and omnipresent, there is one thing for sure: God is not masculine !!

Sixth, if God is infinite and omnipresent, what could one possibly say ABOUT God? It would be God talking “about” God as if God were not the speaker, and the speaking, and the spoken-about. It would be God as subject and God as object. That's not my idea of a conversation nor meaningful utterances!!

So perhaps we have disposed of both the statements as meaningless strings of sound, if the “God” purportedly referred to is infinite, omnipresent, and ineffable. (Or any one of those characteristics !)

By the way IF there is a meaningful word in either of those sentences, that word could be “is.” But unfortunately that's a dull conversation and dull utterance. “Is,” “Is.” “Is.” “Is.”

If one's idea of God or proposed God which “is” “a” “there” of , is not infinite or omnipresent or ineffable, then one might make some coherent, not logically-nonesensical, meaningful utterances.

But IMO that too would be a very dull conversation !!!

There are however many “pointing” utterances which it is fun to roll around on the tongue or in the mind, and to explore, and one can continue to engage in activities which are recommended as leading to “experiences” of “God” and just see what happens in one's own experience. One can keep expanding one's own awareness, the scope of one's awareness, the depth of one's experiences of being, because that's fun and intriguing (except when it's not, like dealing with painful “truths.” Then some other motivation kicks in, or not.)

Some of the loveliest pointing utterances I have run across have been penned by Ken Wilber, but there are others. Rumi. St. Theresa of Avalon. Hildegard von Bingen. Lots of Buddhist and Hindu writings. There are 12 classic “metaphors” for the process of getting to “know” “God” (and thus, indirectly, descriptions of God) that Ralph Metzner has boiled lots of spiritual and religious writings down to, in his book The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience. Lots of great utterances about “God” there, from many writers and religions and eras.

Here's one of the “offical” sound-utterances about “God/ess” from our church literature. It is not a “belief” but the most general “grunting” we agree on:

God/ess is the Source and Substance and existence and activity and operation of Everything Everywhere Forever Infinitely. God/ess is the Force of Creation, the Creator, the Creation, and the Creating. God/ess is all consciousness, all energy, and all matter. Nothing that exists or happens is not-God/ess or is outside of God/ess. God/ess has many names.

We regard those statements as meaningful because some things some people say about “God” are excluded by those statements, though not excluded from God/ess !!

For example, we celebrate male and female and non-gendered aspects of God/ess. This contrasts with ideas of God as “HIM” or “HE.”

For another example, we say that the ultimate purpose of life is to live continuously in the realization that everything which exists is inherently always already, because it exists, One with God/ess. This contrasts with ideas of God in which certain existents or experiences are regarded as not-God, or outside of God. And we regard the non-realization of that Oneness as also part of, an expression and activity of, that Oneness of God, or God.