In light of the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) I decided I would post one more sample chapter here on my blog. Other recent sample chapters posted are:

Anatomy of the Human Psyche: Spirit, Mind, Emotions
Resonance, Dissonance & Discernment

Let let Freedom ring!

[All sample chapter content is protected by copyright. Sharing is permitted as long as full attribution is given to the creator/author of the content. Thank you.]

Reclaiming Freedom

“… if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.

For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their own pride?

And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.”

~ From “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran, on Freedom

It is fear that undermines and restricts the full exercise of our freedom.

So how do we deal with the darkest dark in our world? Hellish things that come straight out of humanity’s worst nightmares? Head on. Into, through and out the other side.

If we know that terrible things go on in our world, if we know, as from all kinds of news reports, mainstream and alternative, that war goes on, torture goes on and more, then these acts touch the collective human psyche of which we are all a part. We can try to ignore them, but ignoring them does not productively or effectively deal with them. Such ugliness can become things we secretly fear. They lurk in the dark corners of our minds. But so many of us do the animal thing and avoid looking at them, hoping that they won’t “get” us. We plaster over such fears with happy thoughts and positive affirmations. Like black mold in a house, plastering over it does not get rid of it. It has to be exposed to fresh air, the light of day and cleaned out or it will sit there and continue growing, malignant and unseen, undermining our quality of life.

We must stretch ourselves to understand that we are more than flesh and blood. The evidence for this is burgeoning all around us. Those who have achieved expanded awareness through spiritual practice know the larger energetic and vibrational reality “within”. Quantum science has given us a model for consciousness at work in our world. This has birthed new areas of consciousness and psychic phenomenon research. Near-death and out-of-body experiences and the profound changes in consciousness of individuals who experience them also support this. We are made of light, energy and vibration. It is our consciousness, collectively, that dreams into reality the solid-seeming world we see around us right down to the bodies we inhabit.

Organized religions have failed us by not addressing these parts of us. We have been cut off from the true knowledge of who we are through religious indoctrination. Traditional religion puts human authoritarian intermediaries between us and the Infinite. Intermediaries as subject to human failings and the seven deadly sins as the rest of us. At their worst, religions have sought to control their followers with fear. Fear of eternal damnation, word pictures they paint of realms they call hell and purgatory. Why? Because the church leadership fears the loss of the power and wealth their followers bestow on them.

Governments have failed us as well. We must fight and make war with whomever the powerful label as “Other”. This Other may have something they want to possess. So the Other is made into someone “not like us”. Savages, barbarians, heretics, infidels, terrorists. “Other” is evil. They use noble-sounding rhetoric that plays on the indoctrination of populations into taking actions they want taken. Their aggression is cloaked as religious crusades, patriotic defenses of ideology or preserving racial purity. Preemptive wars are justified to make sure such Others are dispatched before they have the chance to “get us”. And, oh well, as long as we’ve conquered the evil Others, we might as well lay claim to their land and other spoils and make use of them as we see fit.

Divide and conquer is the way the rich and powerful play the game. They fear us as a unified population. There are millions, billions more of us than them. They know that if we ever all got together, particularly with spiritual knowledge of who we truly are – consciousness inhabiting form – our collective, directed desire, thought and intention could put a decisive stop to their power chess game with the world and it’s people. They have a vested interest in us not remembering our own multi-dimensional and spiritual wholeness. They have staged an all-out war on expanded consciousness, trying to mask it in every devious way they can so we don’t catch on.

Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

The power chess game going on in this world is all about who can wield fear and control over populations most effectively. Fear is the gross base level weapon of the few but powerful over everyone else. Bliss and ecstasy can be another. Both have the potential to be extreme emotional states that block our intuition from functioning. From there, the control devices get more and more subtle.

The best way to control anyone is for them to not realize they are being controlled. So they do it through televised media. They do it overtly with packaged content. And although use of frequency manipulation, subliminals, and other subtly invasive electronic measures are deemed illegal, they are still very likely covertly used, because honestly, how are most ordinary people going to be able to detect it and report it? One of the healthiest things you can do for yourself is disconnect from the public mind control feed in your own home: cable or satellite television. I would even get rid of the boxes that bring the signal in. If you want entertainment, rent movies or TV shows from a local or online video rental service. You’ll enjoy them a lot more without constant commercial interruption, and you’ll pay far less. But watch them in moderation. Get out and live your own real life.

The first step in escaping what traps our consciousness in this world is learning of the ways it steals and cages our energy. If we come to remember that we are more than the bodies we inhabit, that we are indestructible beings made of spirit, love and light, then we have a choice. Are we going to allow ourselves to be manipulated by fear, or other emotional extremes? Or can we learn to simply relax into the knowledge that we are energy and vibration?

If we come to that knowledge, we discover that fear – especially as it is brandished about in our society by those trying to manipulate us with it – is really a phantom with no real substance. Fear doesn’t have any real power over us. It only has the power over us that we allow it to have. It tries to look terrifying in its many masks. It tries to trick us into surrendering our sovereign beingness as free consciousness to it’s thrall. This is to keep us locked into the 3D “solid” reality paradigm. If we can be convinced we are just physical beings subject to pain and death, we can be frightened into compliance. We are controllable.

The reward of achieving and maintaining a higher vibration of love and inner peace is that our consciousness can begin to awaken to its true nature. Our awareness can begin to expand.

It is very true that our bodies can experience pain, suffering and death. We are especially susceptible to threats to loved ones. But if you surrender your sovereign beingness on some hollow promise of being protected from pain, suffering and death, you may later find out that the price of such “safety” was far too high. Surrender your freedom to the state for “security” and you become a herd animal in fact, to be managed or disposed of as your masters see fit. You have abdicated your right to choose for yourself.

The United States Constitution is not a document that grants us freedom. If we believe that, then we can also fall into believing it can be taken away. The Constitution is meant to reflect that that we are in essence free sovereign beings, endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable, inherent rights. Freedom is not given to us by the state, nor can it be revoked by the state. Freedom is inseparable from who we truly are. We, humanity, cannot be “set free”. Freedom is our natural birthright as spiritual beings having a human experience. As pure energy and consciousness.

And even if we have given our freedom away, we can reclaim it at any time we choose.

Why else would there be so much propaganda out there, be it religious, scientific or medical, funneling our beliefs into ourselves as limited and frail human beings? Even in the face of new evidence of life and consciousness beyond bodily death, the old conditioning dies hard. The mainstream public eyes such information with both hope and suspicion. In the face of fear most still fall into the old belief systems. Fear that can then be used to manipulate them in to trading their freedom for “help, safety, security” – the seductions of the controllers.

• In assessing my own exercise of freedom I ask myself the following questions:
• Is it worth it me to surrender my freedom for a hollow “promise” of safety and security?
• How might others I give control over me manage my safety, my health, my well-being?
• Could I live with the consequences of such a decision?
• Would it be better to stay free, live free, act freely, speak freely? Even if someone tries to harm me in some way to stop me?

I was afraid of what had happened to me. I was afraid of speaking out. But the time finally came when none of those factors could any longer compel me to remain silent. The personal cost became too high. The energy of fear was locking down my consciousness and exacting a toll on my body. I had to shed it.

So far, I continue to take the stand for my personal freedom, day by day. What might happen to me if I was ever truly tested on my commitment to freedom no matter what? In all honesty and integrity, I can’t say in this moment. I’m as human as anyone. But so far, the questions above keep my personal compass pointed to “Freedom”.

The only honest limits on freedom dwell within conscience: not to infringe upon the freedom of others nor inflict harm by word or deed. Honor all life and live in mutually beneficial harmony with it.

***

I looked at the dark as deeply as I needed to to understand what actually existed out there and to understand in what context my own experiences happened. I looked at volumes of it. Today I my approach is this: Don’t turn or run from anything because it’s too scary to look at, but deal constructively and positively with the fear and move beyond it. Do this as many times as necessary.

Finally you’ll get to a place where you don’t have to look at any scary stuff any more. There isn’t much left that fear can throw at you that you haven’t already faced. If there is a new fear, you’ve strengthened your confidence to deal with it productively. You move beyond fear.

Once fear loses its power over you, your awareness can begin to expand and awaken in ways you could not have imagined. Then you become a light in the world. You become a space-holder, an energy broadcaster with that light for this world’s transformation. If you take action in the world to help in its transformation, that is icing on the cake. I see many inspired to do just that, and that is a joy.

Today I know there are elite groups out there who consider the masses of humanity as a herd to manage, control and use to serve their purposes. They consider us expendable. I accept the possibility, even the probability of technologies out there in the hands of the wealthy and powerful that the mainstream public can’t begin to imagine. These could include technology for control of weather, earthquakes and volcanoes. If such technologies do in fact exist, it is the secrecy they are concealed by that makes them most dangerous. They are most likely wielded by wealthy, powerful groups with a terrifying lack of either conscience or morals. Since the general public is unaware, natural-seeming disasters are accepted as acts of God, not men. Yet I can’t help but feel suspicious when in the wake of tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes, thousands or millions of people killed or displaced, the devastated lands are taken over and begin to be developed by corporations for their profit in some way. The displaced people left after the disaster remain displaced, unable to return to where they once lived.

If you are just becoming acquainted with the darker side of our world, then some time spent looking at the depth and breadth of it may be necessary to formulate a complete understanding of it. Having a good grasp of the contextual landscape in which we live is important so we can direct our lives in the best ways possible. I have to wonder today if I had had a full understanding of the kinds of dark and ugly things that go on, would I have been so traumatized by what happened? Certainly it would still have been truly terrible to experience. But if the knowledge that the chances existed to encounter such people, capable of doing such things, had been part of my understanding of the world I lived in, the trauma might not have been so severe, perhaps not severe enough to cause the memory to submerge. In a society that recognizes that such things do occur, one would hope that some kind of support system would be set up to help people deal with the aftermath.

I often wonder if the bubble world we live in, this contrived, matrix-like reality, is in part constructed as it is to leave the people living out their lives within it susceptible to severe trauma. If those who have the arcane knowledge of the dark underworld they have constructed need to use one of these individuals, innocent of such knowledge, then they have someone conditioned to be vulnerable to the kind of trauma they can inflict. Susceptibility to severe trauma would certainly be an asset to groups with an agenda of control.

This is a dark idea and may or may not be true. I would much prefer it was not true, that it is just darkly incidental to such structures and processes. But having learned all I have, I cannot rule out that this is done by diabolical design. I admit the possibility and leave it at that. Just having an understanding of the kinds of dark that operate in the world is a protection from it creeping up on you and paralyzing you with trauma, at least to a degree. Understand it exists as a possibility and then set it aside.

Understanding the kinds of things that go on or can happen is not the same as continually wallowing in them and allowing yourself to get emotionally overwrought with anger or fear. Understanding is simply to keep you from being so severely impacted should such knowledge or experience come your way. I hope to create a network of healing resources for those who have had to deal with extraordinary and severe trauma. I also feel that peer support – being in the company of kindred others – is one of the most powerful healing structures we can create.

I no longer feel any need to dig into every bit of information I can on such possibilities or probabilities. I do not need to examine in detail every new piece of disturbing data that gets thrown in my path, and believe me, plenty gets thrown in my path.

I look at them as briefly as I would eye the weather on the horizon, assessing whether I need to get my umbrella or take shelter in a root cellar… in that present moment. I find it dangerous to project too much doomsday into the world from my own thoughts and emotions laced with fears of the future. The scary possibilities predicted by people who look almost exclusively at the darkest of the dark, set whole groups of mind-egos desperately spinning. They try to plan for every possible contingency, devising a reaction for every possible dire event that could befall them.

I’ve also learned that when I face and make peace with the really big fears, I no longer have to look closely at all the little ones that litter my path anymore. When you’ve faced whatever your mind morbidly manufactures as the worst things that can happen to you, the other stuff becomes insignificant. Annoying or frustrating perhaps, but far more easily dismissed.

Once we acknowledge within ourselves the kinds of dark things that are possible or probable, that is enough. Understand it is there, then dismiss it and turn your full energy and attention to something positive, loving or joyful. We must build bridges of understanding with each other. We must cultivate joy in ourselves if we are to build a better world. We just cannot use contrived joy as some kind of denial defense mechanism.

The truth is, all kinds of things could transpire or happen to any of us at any time. Events that have taken place in the past may indeed have set in motion things that will happen in the future. But what if our positive focus and action in the present could impact our future in a positive manner? I choose to believe it can. And the more of us that collectively sign on to such an endeavor, the better our chances of affecting a positive outcome.

The present moment is the moment of positive action. The present moment, and what we choose to hold in our desire, thought and conscious intention, creates all our subsequent moments.

Truth, Freedom & Responsibility

Just what is freedom? What does it personally mean to you, the reader of this book? What does it mean on a physical level? On a mental or emotional level? What does freedom mean on a spiritual level?

These are not test questions with any definitive or rote answers. These are questions to muse over and wonder about every day. They are contemplative questions to make rich with meaning over the passage of time. When you encounter any way in which you are not free in your life, on whatever level, reclaim your freedom in that area of your life.

Don’t look outside yourself for someone to “give” you freedom. Freedom is your sacred birthright. No one can take it from you. They can only try and compel you surrender it to them.

A sword has been used as a symbol of Truth. Its two edges could equally symbolize freedom and responsibility.

The truth, if we come to know and accept it, will set us free. With ultimate freedom comes ultimate responsibility. Responsibility for the choices we make and how they will affect us, each other and future generations. At any moment of choice, we can turn one way or another… we choose our destinies as much as they choose us. What we choose to do with our lives is all the more precious because of free will. Exercising our free will to be and to choose comes when we have the broadest spectrum of learning, knowing and understanding possible. The true exercise of free will can only come when the mind, heart and spirit are free, when we live, move and breathe in a world of transparency and truth.

We choose incarnations in a human body to rediscover freedom through the “confidence course” of limitations and barriers to it that exist here on Earth. To gain, through all the contrasts of duality that we experience here, a fuller understanding of what freedom truly is. Ultimately, to discover that true freedom lies in rediscovering who we are at the level of consciousness and interconnectivity. We live our material lives on Earth within the unified quantum field of potential that underlies the reality that we have created from our desire, thought and intention – even though we also decided to forget who we are when we come here to more fully participate in our creation.

Keep stepping back in your consciousness. We come into human existence and it becomes our reference point for everything we experience. We become part of religious, political and societal structures and they are added to our reference points for how we view life through these various lenses of belief and judgment. What broader context can you step back and view? Can you honor your human feelings and existence while stepping back further into a cosmic perspective? Can you imagine how extraterrestrials might observe life on Earth, especially with the destruction humanity wreaks on the ecosystem we depend on for life? Can you imagine how it might affect telepathic and telempathic beings to touch minds that hide so much from themselves? Can you go further and imagine yourself a drop of consciousness merging with the universal field of all consciousness, suspended in the quantum wave field of all potential, dreaming dreams of differentiated realities settling into various dimensional densities of energy and vibration and bringing them into “real” manifestation?

It’s my heartfelt wish that all people everywhere can learn to move beyond fear and discover the wonderful and incredible potential that awaits them as free beings.