Post No. 268 - Thou shalt not say not, and addiction to chakras

In my early New Age experiences in the 80s, one of the accepted "rules" of wisdom, was that one should not use a negative in affirmations. Hence, for instance, if one wished to give up smoking, the affirmation would be along the lines of having a positive, such as clean breath, or better lung capacity, etc - smoking was not to be mentioned. There can be a point to this, and the example I often use (from my early learning) is "don't think of a pink elephant" - to which most people's response is to think of a pink elephant, and then banish the image.

However, as I was re-reading (actually, re-skimming; it is useful to go through something you've read as a bit of refresher from time to time - assuming it was good or useful - but it may not be necessary to re-read every single word) one of Katrina Raphael's first three books on crystals (she has apparently recently written a fourth), I came across a statement about - in effect - using a generator crystal to programme "not smoking" into one's being.

That got me thinking: is there a time when it is useful to use a negative - as in the sense of "not smoking"? How about "I will have the strength to not smoke"? Contains a negative, but maybe that is something which is needed as some stages of dealing with an addiction - which generally involves a series of steps along the lines of:

• naming the problem;
• acknowledging that the problem is a problem;
• wanting to be helped with the problem;
• seeking help with the problem.

If you're hooked on avoiding negatives, naming a problem may be a problem ...

The big step in my experience (which includes an ex-partner who I consider used to be alcoholic - although she no longer is) is that acknowledging a problem as being a problem is a big issue. I personally consider that this is relevant to the negative state of the world, as many people tend to become fixated on living in one chakra (see this post for an explanation of this concept). Typically, this involves living in the personally focused chakras, resulting in people who are selfish and/or materialist. That may be something they need to do for their evolution, but my experience is that many people have, in effect, become addicted to living in that chakra.

This could happen for a range of reasons, such as not knowing there is an alternative, socialisation, even advertising - whatever the reason, it is undesirable.

The spiritual ideal is being able to "live in" (or manifest the energies/attributes of) whatever chakra or combination of chakras is ideally suited to a particular circumstance. Too many people, in my experience, are unwilling to do so, and hence are inarticulate (shut down throat chakra), unloving (shut down heart chakra), emotionally crippled (shut down solar plexus chakra), unaware of spiritual aspects of life (shut down third eye or crown chakra), or uncaring about the physical world (shut down Earth Star chakra), etc, as a result of being focused on only one or two chakras.

In fact, I would go so far as to say they are addicted to living in that chakra, and need to treat the problem along the lines of it being an addiction.

In this case, education is key part of addressing the problem - perhaps much as education about the dangers of smoking have helped address the problem of smoking. The education about the problem of being addicted to living in only one or two chakras may include education being framed with a view to forming a balanced person as a whole. Recently one of our Universities decided to split undergraduate degrees into a general degree first, and then a specific degree. Their arguments for this confirmed my view that secondary education is failing, as it does not develop the person as a whole human being.

It would be interesting to see what would happen to this work if we were not generally so focused on such a small portion of ourselves.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")

Tags: negatives, affirmations, chakras, attitudes, personal responsibility,

First published: Tysdagr, 17th May, 2011

Last edited: Tuesday, 17th May, 2011

Post No. 227 - Old vs. mature

Something which has cropped up as a point for me to be aware of in my spiritual development recently is the difference between old and mature - as in, "old" spirituality vs. "mature" spirituality.

First, consider a young person who has just discovered something they like and agree with. They may well be - if they are stereotypical :) - enthusiastic and tend to preach of the advantages of this matter to the entire world, not conceiving for a moment that the rest of the world may well have already discovered and considered the matter, with some finding it compatible, useful and having refined it beyond the dreams of the person concerned, and others finding it genuinely incompatible, no matter how they work at it. (Actually, this applies to most people irrespective of age ... )

Someone who has a more mature attitude to anything which is new that they have come across will be aware that others are quite likely to have found this before, and that, due to the natural and valid variation in the world, some will not find the matter useful, and others are simply at a point in their lives where they do not have an interest in the matter - and that is OK, even if the matter concerned could be of benefit to them owing to their right to free will.

The mature person is more likely to discuss such matters calmly, with equanimity as my Guides would say :) , whereas the young person wishes only to push their point of view, and seek converts to their point of view. (Oddly enough, I have observed that the need for converts often reflects an inner doubt ... )

If someone has an immature view on a matter for a very, very long time, they may develop what I call an "old" attitude: they have become rigidly fixated on their point of view, and have locked out the possibility of change. That rigid fixation could also involve seeking converts.

To me, much of Christianity (not all of it - the Metropolitan Community Church is one example I would give of a form of Christianity that is NOT old, as it is more inclusive and responsive to change than other versions of Christianity; I used to consider Anglicanism more mature than old, but that is changing now over the refusal to accept same sex attracted priests) seems to have what I would call an "old" attitude towards spirituality: their view is the only acceptable viewpoint, and they need to actively acquire converts to reassure them that they are on the correct path. I consider the Roman Catholic Church to generally have a "old" attitude, but some parts of it do not - for example, in South America, and some of the recent pronouncements of their Pope.

On the other hand, much of paganism and some of Buddhism in Asia seems to me to fit more into the category of having a "mature" attitude towards spirituality. Converts are not required to be actively sought, although Buddhism in the West seems to have taken on the unsavoury practice amongst some of its Western adherents of doing exactly that (the attitudes of recent converts to Buddhism is one of the things which turned me against that form of spiritual expression: I came across to many people who were studying this for the head knowledge, not changing themselves or applying it in their everyday life - and one particularly obnoxious person I came across when organising a conference on queer spirituality sealed my poor opinion of many of these people), and debates may be more open - certainly I have found that in parts of paganism (e.g. the Witches' Voice website debates and points of view, which cover a reasonable range and allow quite a few people a chance to have a say [including me], although the Wild Hunt blog probably covers more controversial aspects), and there have been unsavoury aspects of this in Buddhism, such as the Dalai Lama's banning of the Dorje Shugden sect.

Some of my main affirmations are around me having, manifesting and facilitating more peace, love, joy, respect and honour in the world: these day I ALWAYS qualify that to be the mature version of those characteristics, not the naive, unduly enthusiastic, proselytising versions that have, for instance, tainted too much the New Age movement.

Finally, as another example of "old" vs. mature, I used to do a little judo when I was younger. Whenever people ask me what colour belt I attained, I say "grey" - a very, very, very OLD white belt :)

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: maturity, spirituality, love, peace, joy, honour, respect, affirmations, chant,

First published: Sunnudagr, 13th February, 2011

Last edited: Sunday, 13th February, 2011

Post No. 105 - A change of affirmation

For most of my life (I nearly wrote "adult life", but I've done this since I was a kid), when I am doing my breathing/visualisation exercises, I often chant (usually mentally, to avoid waking the rest of the house) "peace, love, joy", which are (some of) the energies I want to bring in/build in the world, and in myself. Fairly obvious, I think, why I would want to do that :)

Well, after four decades, I've altered that chant: I have added honour and respect.

Respect is basically around respecting other people, their free will, their choices, and, above all, their personal boundaries. In the last decade, I have encountered major problems through people not respecting my boundaries - actually, it goes back further than that. When I wrote "last decade" I was thinking, in particular, of a former partner, who's family kept indulging in petty crimes which, apart from the time, effort and money involved in court appearances, made my dream of standing for election to the Senate impossible (as a member of several minority groups, I would come under extra media scrutiny, and their petty criminal activities would be used to attack me). However, I've also encountered problems with lack of respect earlier than that - for instance, lack of respect (leading to discrimination) in the workplace around my being lesbian, and around gender identity issues (I've even, many years ago now, had someone who I had thought a friend end that friendship because they considered I should have talked to them more about what I was going through, when I was in a phase of self denial!) It goes back much further than that, however: I've been bullied at school, and subjected many times to the nasty Australian "Tall Poppy Syndrome" (attacking people who dare to be different, or excel, people who, in the Australian vernacular, "get above themselves" - I do know this occurs elsewhere, by the way), and, as a kid, often held myself back to avoid being hassled.

That still happens, often in a more insidious way, when people praise small efforts as large, which then makes anything I try to do which could exceed that potentially problematic. As an example of that, when I first joined an Amnesty International adoption group, I wrote 70 letters in my first month, which caused problems as another member had written fewer, but a number which was, for her, in her circumstances (with kids), an excellent number.

So ... I want to bring into the world, and into my life, more respect, which would accept that people are in different circumstances and what is excellence in one situation is not in another, and that is OK, and that people have rights (such as privacy, i.e., not being subjected to invasive questions, or having others presume rights to access/use personal property when they don't [or fail to respect such usage if permitted]).

Solution? Add it to my chant.

I also want to bring into the world more of the old fashioned values where one has personal integrity, is self reliant, and doesn't do the puerile indulgence in petty crime out of boredom, or to "belong". Hence, honour.

And now, I have to go get ready for a family event that honour dictates I attend :)

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo was taken from Mt. Dandenong around this time last year - autumn.

Tags: chant, personal characteristics, personal responsibility, ethics, interpersonal interactions, love, peace, joy, honour, respect, affirmations,

First published: Sunday 4th April, 2010

Last edited: Sunday 4th April, 2010