Connect with the Wisdom of your Higher Self - Part 2

As I said in my previous post the information or guidance from the Higher Self can take many different forms. In the early stage when we are not really open to the words, feelings and pictures from our Higher Self, much of this guidance can come from something in the world outside ourselves. Things such as a book that falls of a shelf; the sign on a bus driving past or the words of a stranger. There are an infinite number of ways that the information can come to us.

The key is to be open to the information when it presents itself. In the early stage of your journey you will miss much of the information from the Higher Self because of the influence of your ego/subconscious mind and you will misinterpret what you have seen heard or felt. Don't lose heart, it is like learning any new skill, it takes time. Even now after 30 years I still miss the messages.

At the moment I am going through a flat spot in many areas of my life, whereas in others, especially creatively, things are great. I was walking the dogs early in the morning when I asked the question of why things were not working as well as normal or in the flow as I call it. No sooner than two minutes had passed when along came a tram with a large sign on the side which said Convert Your Thinking. As I reflected on that sign I realized that in the areas of my life that were not working I had allowed negative thoughts to appear and my outer world was only reflecting what I was experiencing on the inside. It was time to convert my thoughts. Obviously the best way to do that is only have positive thoughts, but for most of us that is impossible; so if your are like me and the odd negative thought creeps in then immediately replace it with something positive. A simple example of this was this was when I was at the park with the dogs and a woman let her dog loose and it ran around annoying all the other dogs, while she proceeded to talk on the phone and ignore the dog. I found myself judging her and the lack of discipline for her dog. It was a small judgment but one of many that I had been letting creep into my life. Rather than deny what I had just done I converted my thinking by looking at the positive and saw that she was taking her dog out for exercise and socializing. Who knows what else was going in her life and who was I to judge. The moment I changed my energy the dog relaxed and seemed to be more social and less annoying and became one of the pack.

Interesting. How many times in a day do we have these negative thoughts? And so what I hear you say, they are not hurting anyone, but in fact they are hurting you the thinker of these thoughts because they begin to create a world where more and more seems to be negative. So rather than see the immense beauty this world has to offer we see only weeds. Convert your thinking by changing a negative into a positive. When you see something negative look for the positive within it. If your are open the positive is always there.

To me the first step on my journey was to realize that there is an energy within all things and this energy never dies. To look at this topic I have chosen a section of my upcoming book (The Way of the Initiate) when the young disfigured boys goes off on the apprenticeship with the old Chinese sage.

After a long walk, the Sage and his new apprentice stopped to make camp by a river. The sun was beginning to set and the air around them was beginning to cool rapidly, as it was the night before the Winter Solstice. They set about creating a fire to warm themselves. The crackling of the fire was a good sound that highlighted the beauty of the element of Fire. In a balance, it could keep you warm and provide life, but out of a balance it could destroy, as the young boy had already experienced many years ago. In their time together, the old sage would teach the boy many things, but the most important teaching would be to understand and work with the power of the Elements.

They had not talked at all during the day, both preferring to keep to their own counsel, which for a young boy would normally be very difficult; but this young boy was different. On their journey, he watched the forest coming to life and how the different animals and insects appeared at different times during the day. Each of the creatures of the forest seemed to have their own cycle of when to be active and when to rest. The dragonflies that had landed on his shoulders in the village had seemed to follow him throughout the day, and every now and again they would appear in tandem to keep up his spirits. The long walk had been tiring, but on an emotional level he felt a joy he had not felt in years. He did not want to dwell on it, though, as it would have made him remember his parents and the pain of losing them, which was still very much alive. Better he enjoyed what the day and the forest had to offer.

The old sage prepared for them a simple meal of rice and the few vegetables that they were given by the people of the village. It was enough food to last them a few days, but the old sage was not worried; nature always seemed to provide what was needed.
They were eating in silence when it was broken by the gentle tones of the young boy's voice. "What do I call you?"

The old man smiled; he was not used to having company and had never really thought about introducing himself. "My Name is Chung Fu. It was the name given by my old master when I was about your age. It is the 61st hexagram of the I Ching, and it means ‘Inner Truth’. I suppose we will have to give you a new name, a name that will represent this new journey that you are on. I have thought long and hard about what we should call you, and the same name or picture kept appearing to me all day. It was a picture of a fire, a fire that was here to warm the world. From this day forward, you will be known as Huo shi wennuan: 'The Fire that Warms’.”

The young boy nodded to the sage; he could not speak, as his eyes had filled up with tears. Although it was a great honor to be given a name by an old sage, the name itself brought back memories of that fateful day when his parents died in the fire. He sat with his head bowed, reliving the horrible event as more tears escaped from his eyes, coming in ever increasing volume. Then there were the sighs of grief upon the realization that he would never see his parents again.

The old sage, who had the gift of inner sight, understood what the boy was feeling; he could see it in the astral field that surrounded his body. "Nothing ever dies," he said with such gentleness and tenderness that the boy could not help but look up into the eyes of the old sage, who was also crying. He could feel the young boy's pain, and he wished he could just wish it away, but as in everything, there is and was a teaching.

"What do you mean, ‘nothing ever dies’?" said the young man as he wiped the tears and snot from his face.
"Tell me about you parents. Can you describe them?"
The tears flowed again as the young boy described his parents. He described them in such detail and with such emotion that the old sage could see that they were still alive in his heart. They were the sort of memories that would never die; memories filled with emotion, memories that lived forever.
"That is good. The memories you have will be with you always, but just like your memories, the energy that is your parents will never die. Their physical bodies may no longer exist, but their eternal, immortal, and infinite spirit will live on forever." The boy looked a little confused, so the sage changed tack. "Put your hand up in front of your face. Now move it away from your face, slowly, so that you are still looking at it as it moves away from your face. Now I want you to soften your sight; don't look at your hand directly, but almost look at it out of the corner of your eye. What do you see?"
The boy did as the sage told him. He held the hand in front of his face, then as he began to move it away from his face, he softened his look and turned his head slightly, as if trying to perceive it without his direct vision. At first he saw nothing, but then his focus changed to the point where he was not concentrating too hard or too little. Then it happened. At first it scared him, then it disappeared. He tried again, but in the trying, nothing appeared. Without really knowing what he was really doing or why he was doing it, he released the need to see - and of course, the moment he released it was the moment it reappeared. Watching his hand and moving it ever so slightly, he could see the aura as it wrapped itself around his hand. Even as he moved his hand, the aura changed shape but stayed with him.

"That is the energy that some called God; others call it the Tao. It is the energy that gives life to all things, and when our physical bodies die, this energy moves on." He picked up a rock and held it out to the boy. "Even this rock has the same energy running through it. Once you realize that this energy is in all things will be the moment you begin to realize that you are a part of all things. You will begin to see that you and the Great Tao are one. It will also be the moment when you realize that the word ‘Tao’ is only a pale rendition for the energy itself, for the Tao is unknowable and indescribable. It is everything, and again it is nothing; it is the highest, and also the lowest. It is the 'I am that I am.'
"Now, lift both your hands up and put them in front of your eyes. Put your pointer fingers a couple of inches apart, hold them there for a moment, then move them a little closer. Use the same soft vision that you used when you were looking at your hand. Relax, and allow the magic to happen."
The young boy did as he was told. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, then almost involuntarily he took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then breathed out. A smile lit up his face as first he saw the energy envelop each of his fingers, then shoot from the finger on his right hand and connect with the energy in his left hand. For the next two minutes, he played with the energy, watching it dance between his hands. The more he played with it, the stronger the energy became.
The dragonflies that had followed the young boy on his journey moved closer to the light and became part of the game. Seeming to sense the energy passing between Huo's fingers, the dragonflies played their own game, spiraling in and out of the energy that connected his hands. There was a moment when the aura of the dragonflies connected with Huo's aura. It lasted only a few seconds, but in those seconds Huo felt a strong connection with the dragonflies, so strong that it not only enveloped the boy and the dragonflies, but the fire, the old sage, and everything within a hundred metres as well.
The old sage smiled to himself; he had chosen well. Huo was the one who would eventually take over his role as the 33rd Sage; already he was connected at a deeper level with the Tao or Godforce than any other child he had ever seen. His biggest challenge was to go beyond the ego and see the death of his parents for what it really was, but there was plenty of time for that. It would not be easy, but there would come a point in the teaching where Huo would be able to pull back from the ego's view of the world and see his and his parents’ lives from an infinite view; by being able to detach, he could allow the healing process to occur.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the teachings imbedded in it. For next couple of days why not practicing seeing the energy that exists in all things and play around with the exercises in the story above. When I first tried I almost collapsed in shock when I could clearly see the energy around a tree and then around a person. It was the day I opened up to this wonderful quest I am on.

Blessings and peace and my you spiritual journey always be playful and filled with joy.
Geof
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The 33rd Sage and the 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris and a number of online book stores.

The Way of the Initiate will be published mid 2013

Twitter @GeofSpalding
Official Author Blog - the33rdsage.authorsxpress.com/
Translatable Author Blog - 33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/
Book Websites 'The 33rd Sage,' at www.33rdsage.com
'The 33rd Sage and the Initiate,' at www.the33rdsage.com

Connect with the Wisdom of your Higher Self - Part 1

Thirty two years ago, I had chronic fatigue syndrome, and overnight was transformed from a high class athlete and company executive to someone who could barely stay awake more than an hour at a time. Through strange circumstances, I met a teacher who taught me about the Taoist teachings of an old Chinese man. He said that if I  listened intently to the teachings and lived with them, there would be a day when I  would look at someone and truly know them. I would understand instantly their emotional pattern, their health patterns and even know what words to use to communicate to them in their own language (much of which I share in my first book the 33rd Sage).

After three years of studying these techniques, I met an old Chinese sage on a beach in Bali who became my mentor and taught me a deeper understanding of man and the seasons. He would make me sit for hours at a time in the snow or on the beach on a hot summer's day so that I could see how the seasons changed from moment to moment and day to day. By watching the seasons, I gradually came to understand these same cycles within man and mankind.

The old Chinese sage sent me on a quest. The quest was to research the real story of Jesus and the Holy Graal and in the process I discovered more about who I was and  set me on the search for my Higher Self. This quest took me on many adventures across many lands, and although my old Chinese friend is no longer there to guide me, the quest continues. My book 'The 33rd Sage and the Initiate,' is a fictionalized version of that journey. On the cover is a set of stairs which lead up to an open doorway to the light. For me this was representative of the Initiate's journey or the journey to the higher self. It is a journey that anyone can take and a journey where the door is always open. This is not a journey that needs to take place in a mystery school or under the guidance of a guru; in many cases these teachers and teachers can stop you from discovering that to connect with your Higher Self or become the initiate you need to eventually go alone on the inner journey.

The first thing that you need to do is commit to the adventure which is just another word for Initiation. By having the courage to commit to a life where what is around the corner is unknown your next step will appear as if by magic. I say that because every one of us has a different and individual path to connect with the wisdom of our Higher Self. In these writings I will share some of the steps that I have taken on my journey, but remember they are not your steps; you may find that your journey will take you in a completely different direction.

If you feel attracted to some of the steps I share, then work with them but engage with them in your own way. All the time checking in with your feelings to decide whether it is right for you. When I use the term feelings I am not talking about emotion; emotion is  the reaction to where we put our focused attention. When I talk about feeling I mean the energy that is expressed by all things. Everything in the universe, whether it be human, animal, mineral or even a situation gives off a feeling tone. When you come into any situation where you are not sure, simply go into your feeling centre and see what feeling arises in you. If you have a strong positive feeling move forward. When you have a strong negative feeling withdraw and in the case of a feeling that is neither positive or negative, stay where you are and wait for more information. Generally in these cases it is because  you do not have all the information, so just wait and if you are open to it the information generally appears.

This information or guidance from the Higher Self can take many different forms. In the early stage when we are not really open to the words, feelings and pictures from our Higher Self, much of this guidance can come from something in the world outside ourselves. Things such as a book that falls of a shelf; the sign on a bus driving past or the words of a stranger. There are an infinite number of ways that the information can come to us.

The key is to be open to the information when it presents itself. In the early stage of your journey you will miss much of the information from the Higher Self because of the influence of your ego/subconscious mind and you will misinterpret what you have seen heard or felt. Don't lose heart, it is like learning any new skill, it takes time.
If you are not already I would suggest that you meditate each day. I can hear many of you now but I can't meditate, I cannot focus on my breath and anyone of a million excuses. Whatever you think of meditation it is important for your physical and spiritual health. I am not expecting you to be as good as a Buddhist monk. All I want you to do is meditate or just relax for 24 minutes per day. Listen to the sounds of nature or classical music, it does not matter, what you are trying to achieve is to slow down the brain to work at a lower range. I will explain all the details for the intellectuals in another blog.
For now, all I want you to do is find a place where you won't be interrupted and take 24 minutes of relaxation. If you can do it in nature or before sunrise that is even better. By relaxing in the early morning you set up a calmness that can continue throughout your day.

If anything happens in your meditation or you get a great insight, thank your Higher Self and go back into the relaxation.

For those who are already great meditators take a step back and do it as if it is your first time. Some of us get so caught up in the mechanics of meditation that we do not live in the moment.

Enough of me for now. In the next post we will look at some exercises to increase your awareness and connect to the Godforce which exists around all of us.

Blessings and Peace.

Any questions leave them in the comment box.

Geof

*************

The 33rd Sage and the 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris and a number of online book stores.

The Way of the Initiate will be published mid 2013

Twitter @GeofSpalding
Official Author Blog - the33rdsage.authorsxpress.com/
Translatable Author Blog - 33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/
Book Websites 'The 33rd Sage,' at www.33rdsage.com
'The 33rd Sage and the Initiate,' at www.the33rdsage.com

Connect with Your Higher Self

Some people who read the original post asked me to go into more depth about the Higher Self; what is it and where does it exist? I will do that but I have included the original post for those who have stumbled upon it for the first time.

In the 1970's and 80's there were many channelers, channeling information from a number of great teachers such as Seth, Ramtha and Old Chinese. When the channelers went deep into trance these energies would come through them and teach the students that were drawn to them. For the most part when they came out of trance the channelers would have no idea what information had been channeled.

It is my belief that these beings were coming through their Higher Self and as Old Chinese once taught that when a message comes from our higher self that the ego or subconscious mind would have no memory of what was coming through. If the channeler had a fully memory of what had come through then it was because it was created by his ego to make him or her more special.

In the twenty first century there seems to be many individuals who seem to be channeling information from the gods, Angels, beings from other planets and other dimensions or from great teachers of the past. What makes them different from channelers of the past is that in many cases they have a full memory and understanding of the channeled information. Normally I would have let these teachings go as manifestations of the ego, but I have seen and met many of these, so called, channelers and modern day mystics who have access to the inner worlds. Although much of this information appears to be coloured by the thoughts and belief of the channeler, there appears to be wonderful information that is coming from the area of their Higher Self which is connected with everything.

My old teacher quite often talked about the spiritual quickening which was going to take place on the planet in the last twenty years of twentieth century and on into the twenty first century. I wonder whether this quickening includes greater access to the information that is stored in our higher selves.

Old Chinese was an energy that came through Marshall Lever to teach a group of students who wanted to move beyond the ego and the Earth plane. His teachings required discipline because he believed it was necessary for discipline for the individual to move beyond the ego; for the ego doesn't like discipline because it wants to have its own way. By providing it discipline it tends to quiet and let the higher self come through and around the subconscious mind. This energy from the higher self allows the individual momentary glimpses of the divine. In those moments when we have this connection with the higher self we are connected to all things. The challenge is that as soon as we recognize these moments of pure creativity coming from the higher self; the ego tries to hold on to it, but in the process of hanging on to it, all that is left is the ego and its self importance. Like the Tao the Higher Self is an energy that is indescribable. We have moments of it enlightening our lives or a situation, but because in most cases these moments are so brief we cannot describe them and in the end the higher self withdraws into itself and our ego believes that it does not exist and that it was an epiphany from our own wonderful goodness or intelligence.

You can recognize that it was your higher self because, it is an energy that you cannot put your finger on. You have a wonderful insight and then it is gone; most times you don't even have a memory of what the insight is.

Through discipline, such as meditation, fasting and time spent in nature you can slow down your ego to the point where these insights increase. You can even ask a question and an insight is immediately given; sometimes in the form of a feeling or a single word; sometimes these insights come from something in the outside world such as a sign or a word that would not normally have this effect on you.

Another discipline that allows your higher self to come forward is the discipline of creativity. It would seem funny to use the words creativity and discipline in the same sentence, but to be truly creative, you must have discipline. It is one of those strange quirks of fate that when you are at your most creative, whether a writer, painter, sculptor or anything that is creative, that in that moment of creation your are extremely focused and yet also in a meditative state. People who meditate regularly will tell you that in those moments when you are in your deepest meditation are the moments when you are connected with everything around you. If you want to feel the energy of the higher self then find what is your stick, what it is that drives you creatively. For me I am at my most creative in three situations; firstly when I am writing, secondly when I am teaching spiritual or metaphysical concepts or when I am meditating. In all these situations it is like there is a little voice that I am not aware in my normal life that comes around my subconscious mind and shares its wisdom. The trick I find is not to try and hold on to the little voice, but allow it to share what it needs to share and let it go. When you try to hold onto the little voice or the concept that is coming through it is only your ego which is feeling full of itself as it believes it was the creator of the idea or concept when in reality it comes from the higher self. But I hear you say that if it is from the higher self does that mean that we cannot create by ourselves. My answer to that would be it is the act of creation that we allow a window between ourselves and the higher self. If we could keep our ego out of it and continue in the act of creation like a little child then these moments of connection with the higher self can become longer.

Interestingly last night I had one vision and one dream. The vision occurred during my meditation. When I was completely relaxed what appeared to be a tunnel could be seen off in the distance. At first I thought it was the tunnel to what some have called heaven, but which is in reality a tunnel which can take you to the spirit world and a number of other dimensions based on our belief patterns. Unlike the normal tunnel which usually appeared right beside me this one appeared off in the distance and I found myself just staring at it - not sure whether to go towards it or not. It was then that my spirit guide Bartholomew (great name for a guide - he is also sometimes called Nathaniel, but that is a story for another time) entered my meditation and told me that the tunnel in front of me was the connection to my higher self. Connection was not quite the right word though because we are all connected to our higher self. What Bartholomew explained was that each of us has the opportunity to open up and enter into our higher self, where we will have the knowledge and understanding of what we have ever been and ever will be. I immediately felt nauseous and was almost spat out of the vision. As I opened my eyes I had a feeling that we are not meant to strive towards this connection with the higher self, but through our work on ourselves we draw the higher self to us.

That same night I had a dream where their was a group of us sitting around a table and I was teaching them how to connect with their higher selves. It was fascinating as I was sharing stories and teachings that I had been receiving and yet most of what I was teaching was from my upcoming book 'The Way of the Initiate,' a book that was written in parable form about a disfigured young boy who becomes a wise old sage and an Initiate of an ancient brotherhood.

As I have described elsewhere the higher self is like a library in which each of our lives are equivalent to a book. The Higher Self is an eternal, immortal and infinite energy with the role to grow in knowledge by having experiences in this and other dimensions to allow its knowledge to grow and further add to the knowledge and the experiences of the all that there is or as some would call Tao or God.

The Higher Self does not differentiate between what is good or bad because, like the Tao, it has no understanding of those concepts, because to do so would stunt its own evolution and it would then only choose experiences that fit in with it's own biases. So wherever you find yourself is where you are meant to be, because where you find yourself is the greatest opportunity for you to learn and or experience the lessons that you came to the earthplane to learn. If we came with knowledge of these other life's and experience then we would not achieve what we have come to learn. There is an opportunity given to us in our incarnations where we can experience aspects of the Higher Self and that is when we have memories of who we have been before, but they are only dream like glimpses or the feelings of deja vu when we experience something that we have experienced before. Like walking through a city we have never been to and immediately knowing where everything is or memories of having walked these streets before.

There is even a point in some of these incarnations when due to work on self you open up a doorway between your individual aspect and the Higher Self. In the beginning this door will appear off in the distance but energy will leak from the higher self and you will experience more and more insights about this and other lives or experiences across this an other dimensions. It is difficult to describe the experience because it is one of those things that can only be understood by doing the inner work and having the experience itself.

What I am sharing is what I have learnt from my teachers and glimpses I have had beyond what one called the hidden doorway. My experience will not be your experience because it is clouded by my own belief patterns. The cool but frustrating thing in the early stages of this inner work is that you will suddenly have insights or epiphanies from your higher self, but then you cannot remember what happened, other than strange recollection that something important happened.

After thirty years of working to open up the doorway to my Higher Self I have realized that it is always open; it is just that we are not open to the information coming from. That is why it is important to work on your inner self if you really want to see and connect with what was always there. Of course in the early stages of your journey you will have to believe in an energy that you cannot see and probably do not understand.

It is for this reason that I have written "The Way of the Initiate," it is based on the techniques and teachings that I have followed over the last 30 years. Although it is written as a parable, I have tried to simplify each of the steps so that anyone could follow them for you don't need a great intellect to connect with your Higher Self. All you need is the courage to take the road of the Initiate.

Over the next few months I will share with you some of the steps that I have used along the way. Although these steps have been helpful on my journey and I believe they will be helpful for others on the path, they are not the only way, but one of many.

Blessings and Peace - may your higher self give you a hint of its and your magnificence


The 33rd Sage and the 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris and a number of online book stores.

The Way of the Initiate will be published mid 2013

Twitter @GeofSpalding
Official Author Blog - the33rdsage.authorsxpress.com/
Translatable Author Blog - 33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/
Book Websites 'The 33rd Sage,' at www.33rdsage.com
'The 33rd Sage and the Initiate,' at www.the33rdsage.com

The Doorway

 Everyone has inside them a doorway which leads to the Higher Self. It is not a doorway that you walk towards it is a doorway that comes to you. In fact it is a doorway that is always there and exists within each one of us. The difficulty is and has always been that we tend to put things on the outside and journey towards them, but in truth the reality is on the inside and we create this reality first in our mirror world then it is displayed as an external experience in the outer world.

If you want to change your experience in the outer world you first need to change your experience in the inner world.

The funny thing about these mystical worlds and dimensions is that you first must believe in them before you can actually see or experience them. This in itself presents a problem because in the process we all create different inner worlds because of the beliefs that we hold. An old mystic once told me that to see the real truth you need to get rid of your beliefs. At the time I did not understand what he meant but over the past thirty years as I have travelled to the inner worlds and my inner self I have begun to understand that the form and shape of these inner worlds has been created by me. And yet it is because of these beliefs that the experiences of the higher self and for that matter the energy that we call God is expanded by our own individual journeys.

What is real and does it really matter? If the whole reason for our incarnation to the earth-plane is to gather experiences which can be added to the library called the Higher Self, then it does not matter what we experience; their is no good or bad only our thinking and beliefs make it so.
If we have no beliefs we can see the emperor without his clothes and then experience the all that there is. Have you ever sat in nature, by a lake or in front of a sunset and had a mystical, I am connected with everything, moment? If you have, what happened when you tried to describe it. Did you find that your words did not match the experience? It was because your whole being including your higher self experienced that moment but in the telling it is only your ego which is sharing its experience and this will never be the experience, so that in reality it is impossible to share. That is why it is so important for our spiritual beings to experience as much as life as possible and in that I am not saying we should have more things because that is only the ego. Real experiences are when we are living in the moment and we experience something will our whole being.

One of the simplest ways to experience it is called mindful meditation or being fully present in the moment. In my upcoming book "The Way of the Initiate," the sage teaches the young disfigured boy the art of being in the moment by having him hold a plum and describe what he is feeling. The young boy realizes that with his eyes open he will only see what he expects to see; so he closes his eyes and feels the plum for the first time and it takes him on an experiential journey he would not have expected.

To fully be in the experience sometimes it is necessary to see the experience from a different perspective than you would normally. Each of us has our preferred way in which we experience the world, but these filters we use sometimes stop us from seeing what is truly there.
Blessings and Peace and may your experiences open up a doorway in you that will lead you to your Higher Self.

Geof Spalding


The 33rd Sage and the 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris and a number of online book stores.

Twitter @GeofSpalding
Official Author Blog - the33rdsage.authorsxpress.com/
Translatable Author Blog - 33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/
Book Websites 'The 33rd Sage,' at www.33rdsage.com
'The 33rd Sage and the Initiate,' at www.the33rdsage.com

Your Higher Self

In the 1970's and 80's there were many channelers, channeling information from a number of great teachers such as Seth, Ramtha and Old Chinese. When the channelers went deep into trance these energies would come through them and teach the students that were drawn to them. For the most part when they came out of trance the channelers would have no idea what information had been channeled.

It is my belief that these beings were coming through their Higher Self and as Old Chinese once taught that when a message comes from our higher self that the ego or subconscious mind would have no memory of what was coming through. If the channeler had a fully memory of what had come through then it was because it was created by his ego to make him or her more special.

In the twenty first century there seems to be many individuals who seem to be channeling information from the gods, Angels, beings from other planets and other dimensions or from great teachers of the past. What makes them different from channelers of the past is that in many cases they have a full memory and understanding of the channeled information. Normally I would have let these teachings go as manifestations of the ego, but I have seen and met many of these, so called, channelers and modern day mystics who have access to the inner worlds. Although much of this information appears to be coloured by the thoughts and belief of the channeler, there appears to be wonderful information that is coming from the area of their Higher Self which is connected with everything.

My old teacher quite often talked about the spiritual quickening which was going to take place on the planet in the last twenty years of twentieth century and on into the twenty first century. I wonder whether this quickening includes greater access to the information that is stored in our higher selves.

Old Chinese was an energy that came through Marshall Lever to teach a group of students who wanted to move beyond the ego and the Earth plane. His teachings required discipline because he believed it was necessary for discipline for the individual to move beyond the ego; for the ego doesn't like discipline because it wants to have its own way. By providing it discipline it tends to quiet and let the higher self come through and around the subconscious mind. This energy from the higher self allows the individual momentary glimpses of the divine. In those moments when we have this connection with the higher self we are connected to all things. The challenge is that as soon as we recognize these moments of pure creativity coming from the higher self; the ego tries to hold on to it, but in the process of hanging on to it, all that is left is the ego and its self importance. Like the Tao the Higher Self is an energy that is indescribable. We have moments of it enlightening our lives or a situation, but because in most cases these moments are so brief we cannot describe them and in the end the higher self withdraws into itself and our ego believes that it does not exist and that it was an epiphany from our own wonderful goodness or intelligence.

You can recognize that it was your higher self because, it is an energy that you cannot put your finger on. You have a wonderful insight and then it is gone; most times you don't even have a memory of what the insight is.

Through discipline, such as meditation, fasting and time spent in nature you can slow down your ego to the point where these insights increase. You can even ask a question and an insight is immediately given; sometimes in the form of a feeling or a single word; sometimes these insights come from something in the outside world such as a sign or a word that would not normally have this effect on you.

Another discipline that allows your higher self to come forward is the discipline of creativity. It would seem funny to use the words creativity and discipline in the same sentence, but to be truly creative, you must have discipline. It is one of those strange quirks of fate that when you are at your most creative, whether a writer, painter, sculptor or anything that is creative, that in that moment of creation your are extremely focused and yet also in a meditative state. People who meditate regularly will tell you that in those moments when you are in your deepest meditation are the moments when you are connected with everything around you. If you want to feel the energy of the higher self then find what is your stick, what it is that drives you creatively. For me I am at my most creative in three situations; firstly when I am writing, secondly when I am teaching spiritual or metaphysical concepts or when I am meditating. In all these situations it is like there is a little voice that I am not aware in my normal life that comes around my subconscious mind and shares its wisdom. The trick I find is not to try and hold on to the little voice, but allow it to share what it needs to share and let it go. When you try to hold onto the little voice or the concept that is coming through it is only your ego which is feeling full of itself as it believes it was the creator of the idea or concept when in reality it comes from the higher self. But I hear you say that if it is from the higher self does that mean that we cannot create by ourselves. My answer to that would be it is the act of creation that we allow a window between ourselves and the higher self. If we could keep our ego out of it and continue in the act of creation like a little child then these moments of connection with the higher self can become longer.

Interestingly last night I had one vision and one dream. The vision occurred during my meditation. When I was completely relaxed what appeared to be a tunnel could be seen off in the distance. At first I thought it was the tunnel to what some have called heaven, but which is in reality a tunnel which can take you to the spirit world and a number of other dimensions based on our belief patterns. Unlike the normal tunnel which usually appeared right beside me this one appeared off in the distance and I found myself just staring at it - not sure whether to go towards it or not. It was then that my spirit guide Bartholomew (great name for a guide - he is also sometimes called Nathaniel, but that is a story for another time) entered my meditation and told me that the tunnel in front of me was the connection to my higher self. Connection was not quite the right word though because we are all connected to our higher self. What Bartholomew explained was that each of us has the opportunity to open up and enter into our higher self, where we will have the knowledge and understanding of what we have ever been and ever will be. I immediately felt nauseous and was almost spat out of the vision. As I opened my eyes I had a feeling that we are not meant to strive towards this connection with the higher self, but through our work on ourselves we draw the higher self to us.

That same night I had a dream where there was a group of us sitting around a table and I was teaching them how to connect with their higher selves. It was fascinating as I was sharing stories and teachings that I had been receiving and yet most of what I was teaching was from my upcoming book 'The Way of the Initiate,' a book that was written in parable form about a disfigured young boy who becomes a wise old sage and an Initiate of an ancient brotherhood.

Blessings and Peace - may your higher self give you a hint of its magnificence


The 33rd Sage and the 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris and a number of online book stores.

Twitter @GeofSpalding
Official Author Blog - the33rdsage.authorsxpress.com/
Translatable Author Blog - 33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/
Book Websites 'The 33rd Sage,' at www.33rdsage.com
'The 33rd Sage and the Initiate,' at www.the33rdsage.com

Healing and the Subconscious Mind

Healing and the Subconscious Mind

"In Old China an emperor stood upon a very high hill. Spread through the valley below him was all of his great army. He could see where a battle would be fought and where the other armies waited. He had developed an intricate system of commands for the generals and officers of his army and the battle beganThe emperor could signal to the right, and the right would attack. He could signal to the left, and the left would attack, or the middle. With another signal, each would retreat then attack again. The battle went on for hours. When the emperor saw a weakness he sent troops to that area and eventually they overcame the other army."

Chung Fu

This analogy fits your conscious and subconscious minds. Your conscious mind is the emperor and your subconscious, the army, does not see what is going on.

When we are talking of healing what we are really talking about is the subconscious mind. When we look at the physician analogy in my previous blog it is important to understand that our subconscious mind is a wonderful, natural force. It is how we exist in this world. It allows us to have memories of past situations and it is the place where the conscious mind implants all it's belief and knowledge. This can can either be a positive or negative experience. If we place in our subconscious the thought that the world and it's people are filled with great beauty, then that is what we will see. On the other hand if we focus on the pain and suffering in the world all we will see is pain and suffering.

Many of my readers will have an understanding of what I mean by the Subconscious Mind or the Subconscious as it has also been called. Before we go into more detail on how to get the best out of and work with the Subconscious I would like to give my quick explanation of what I believe it is and why it is so important.

When we incarnate into our bodies before birth or shortly after. What is is that incarnates? Some have called it the Soul others have called it the Subconscious and I would guess that if you look into many of the religions it will be known by many other names. For me I will call it the Subconscious. It is my belief that our higher self sends of aspects of itself in the form of the Subconscious to inhabit a body to increase its experiences in this plane. When the subconscious takes residence in the vehicle it is blank and has no knowledge of other lives or of the Higher Self. This is done so that went it incarnates it comes without any knowledge; so that it can work through the issues that it came here to experience. It is not a hit and miss exercise as the higher self and the aspect which incarnates understands what are probabilities for it in the first thirteen years of its life. It understands the parents weaknesses and strengths; it understand the culture it is being born into and it understand what is happening on the world at this time. Yes for it's own experience it chooses to live in Africa, Indonesia or America. It is only our misunderstanding of the wonderful opportunity that we call life, that we judge people for where they are born, the colour of their skin, their culture and their parenting. Mark my words it is the choice of the incarnated to where and when they choose and it is only our lack of understanding that makes us judge others to be different or less than we are.

When we incarnate we even choose what Element we will incarnate into as this elemental bias will allow us the best opportunity to experience what we came to earth to experience. When people start to learn about the Elements or deeper understandings of the Subconscious mind it is because they are ready for it. It is time for them to go beyond their Subconscious Mind.

But what is there to go beyond and how do we do it? Although our subconscious is an empty book when we arrive it comes programmed with our elemental perspective. We have also chosen our genetics because that will offer us the right environment in disease and health patterns to experience what we came here for. Incarnation into the Earth-plane is all about experiences; whether we are human, animal, plant or mineral. If you are attracted to these writings then you have done at least six lifetimes as human and many in all the other dimensions.

Even before your are born your subconscious is taking in impressions from your world. The Subconscious mind takes in everything; hundreds of thousands of inputs every minute. As the old computer saying goes, "Garbage in, garbage out." Before you start feeling guilty for the garbage that you have fed yourself or your children. Stop for a moment, breathe and understand that with regards to yourself you can become like the Emperor in our story and start to take control of your Subconscious mind through Conscious Mind. With regards the children you will have to wear that one. Sorry only kidding. Remember that your children chose you for all the crap that you and the world around you has given them. They understood what they were coming here to experience; they chose it. They get their revenge though. Every child feeds back to their parents and society what it taught them in the first thirteen years. We always blame the teenagers, but maybe we should look closer to home and be thankful that our loving teenagers are giving back to us what we taught them, so that we can deal with our own stuff. Scary thought that. Remember there are no victims. This is one concept that I have had the most difficulty understanding as I watch people in pain and suffering.

The subconscious mind has the ability to create in your world whatever you program into it and whatever you program into it is what you will get in return. The key if you want to change your life is to start taking care with what you program into your subconscious.
Begin today by becoming the observer. Watch how you respond to people and situations. When you meet someone new do you react positively or negatively and why?

When you get angry. Why are you angry, is it something they did or are you projecting your weakness onto them? Often I find it is when we meet someone who shows what we don't like about ourselves or a weakness we have that we can react.
If something makes you sad - why?
If you judge something or someone - why?
If you are fearful - why?

Don't be too tough on yourself; just observe; as you begin to become the observer you start to understand why you respond and then you can rise beyond it. Sometimes it can be a great challenge when you have believed these things for many years. Remember you are here to go beyond your Subconscious mind and have it work for you. It is time to understand your Element and then go beyond it to the Element of Ether. If you want to learn more about the Elements my first book 'The 33rd Sage,' is filled with the teachings I received from my old Chinese teacher.

We live in amazing times when all of us have the opportunity to be the creative essence we were meant to be.

Blessings and Peace and May your god give you the strength to realize how wonderful you are. One day you may even discover that the God or the Godforce that you seek has always been inside you.

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The 33rd Sage and my second book The 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, and a number of online book stores. Bricks and mortar stores can order the books through my publishers, Xlibris and Dog Ear Publishing.

Twitter @GeofSpalding

Official Author Blog - the33rdsage.authorsxpress.com/

Websites www.the33rdsage.com and www.33rdsage.com

Translatable Author Blog - 33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/

Pentecost

Oh where do I begin? Have you ever had a moment when you felt a change occur right throughout your body? This was not a change because I had taken a drug. This was a change which occurred at every level of my being and if the truth be known it effected me in every dimension that I exist in.
Not the way I would normally start writing but I had to prepare you for what actually happened and if I did that by just telling you then you may not have realized how big it was. I was about to walk outside with my iPad and begin writing for the day when all of a sudden my body began to shudder. It lasted only for a few seconds, during which time I experienced an energy enter my being. It was not like I was possessed or anything like that. It was more like an energy from without released something inside me. While I was experiencing the transformation a word appeared in my mind and the word was Pentecost. A word which I had heard before because of my Christian upbringing, but not one I was full au fait with. It was weird but at the same time uplifting. I felt like my whole being had been transformed and somehow uplifted beyond this earthly dimension.

Moments later it was all finished and I was left euphoric and confused as my ego mind tried to understand the experience and hold onto it. But like all mystical moments it did not last and soon I was even doubting that anything had even occurred.

I opened up a page to write but there was nothing forthcoming. I even tried to edit some existing work, but nothing. Then I thought about writing out a parable or two to keep my conscious mind busy and allow what ever was happening to take care of itself. But I could not even copy pages from a book.

I sat there for a moment wondering what to do or if there was anything I needed to do to understand the moment. As I sat there in the front garden reflecting on what I had experienced another thought briefly entered my mind; it was to read.

I fought the thought for a moment, but it was only a moment, for the longer I had been on this spiritual the more I began to listen to these little voices and the quicker I responded to them.
I opened the kindle on my iPad and scanned what books I had to read. I downloaded a couple of books a week and in some cases I never read them. I usually read when I need a break from writing. As I scanned the titles to see if any caught my attention I was shocked to find that one was titled 'Pentecost.' My body began to shudder again and within a millisecond the energy returned and I could feel it through my whole being.

When I came back from where this energy took me I quickly googled the word 'Pentecost.'  I was shocked when I read that it was the Christian festival celebrating the descent of the holy spirit on the disciples of Jesus after his Ascension. Shocked because I had just returned from Central America where many people had the belief that we were going to ascend after the end of the Mayan calendar on 21/12/2012. I had never really believed in Ascension and was drawn to lands of the Maya, not in the hope of ascending, but because I knew there was a once in a twenty six thousand year alignment between the sun and the centre of the galaxy and I wanted to be at the sacred Mayan site Palenque when it happened. Not so much because I thought something would happen, although I was hopeful that something major would happen. But I knew if anything was going to happen it would be far more subtle and it would be something that would take years, possible decades before any massive changes would occur or so I thought.

It was during a ceremony when we were at Palenque on the 21/12/2012 that I first saw a vision that I now believe was the opportunity to bring in the new world age.
As we stood in the circle to celebrate the solstice and the end of the Mayan calendar, the rains began to fall and when I say fall it was like the gods were emptying every last drop of water from the sky upon our head. Palenque was definitely the water element aspect of the Five Cities of Light and we were all experiencing the element in all it's glory. Amazingly not one person broke from the circle as ceremony continued; funny how each time a new person came into the centre to lead another part of the ceremony, the rain just got heavier. We stood there for hours getting drenched in the Element of Water and not one person complained or showed their frustration. The negative emotion of the Water Element person is frustration and although we were being challenged not one person showed the least frustration. They were all being challenged by the element and each and everyone of the circle seemed to be able to step above the emotion and see the beauty of water for what it provided. For without water there would be no growth, no life.
When the ceremony was finished most of just laughed and like children we splashed our way around Palenque, enjoying the water falls that appeared on the temples and the rivers that were flowing through the site.
Aluna made the comment that we were here to create our new selves, that our old selves would not be taken into the new world which we and others were creating. As usual my inner self always like to make a physical statement when there is a new teaching for me to learn. It is always great for my story telling but sometimes it gives me wonderful challenges and opportunities for change. When we arrived back in villa after walking the few kilometres from Palenque the first thing I noticed was that there was not one thing that I was wearing or had in my pockets or in my backpack that wasn't wet except for my IPad. Seems that God still wanted me to write.
When I took out my money much of it looked like it was actually made from water and I attempted to squeeze the water out of it and then tried to dry it with a hair dryer. Strangely two weeks later some of the money was still wet. Worse than that was my passport which resembled a sponge and when I looked at the passport photo it looked like my face was dripping away. So much for creating a new me; even my passport was expressing what was happening in the inner worlds.
When we were be drowned in Palenque I had a vision of the two pyramids joined at the base, one pointing into the air and the other into the ground. Inside the two pyramids was one sphere which seemed to fill up the space. Also in the pyramids and I believe emanating from the sphere was what I could only describe as coloured lightening. The lightening was flicking at the sides of the pyramid and each time it struck the sides of the pyramid, the pyramid seemed to lose its shape, not collapse but to be able to morph or change its shape.
Over the next couple of days every time I closed my easy I would see what looked like stone heads come rushing towards me. Over time these heads started to come alive and appeared to be trying to communicate with me. I was a little too thick to understand what they were communicating. When we were in Tikal I meditated in front of the jaguar temple. One minute in and the faces started to come again but this time it was only one face and it kept telling me to be open as it had information for me. To date the only realization I have had is that the pyramid in Palenque was some type of a doorway.
After having spent 30 plus years on my own journey I was quite used to the odd mystical occurrence but since Palenque or 21/12/2012 they seem to have been speeding up.
After what I will call the Pentecost incident I went for a walk through the streets around my home to understand what had happened to me or was still happening to me. While still in the euphoria of the feelings and trying to hold onto the memory of what happened, my attention was drawn to a red car which was parked off to my right. I looked at it out the corner of my eye and the rear passenger door appeared to go all weird and the metal seemed to break down into swirls of colours. I turned towards the car expecting the experience to have disappeared, but to my shock it was still happening. I walked closer to the car and observed the effect for a few more seconds before it disappeared and reestablished itself as a red car door. It was weird but not unusual as I have seen this breaking down of matter a number of times in the last few years. It just seems that since 21/12/2012 things are happening a lot more often.
I can only wonder what will happen over the next three years when the sun breaks through the influence of the dark rift that it has been crossing for the last 30 years, funnily enough about the same time that my spiritual journey began in this lifetime. The end of 2012 was for many seen as the end of a major cycle and the beginning of the next age of man.
What I believe is more important is what we do in the next three years before the sun moves out of the dark rift in 2016; for as we are in the next three years will have a major impact on the next 5,125 world age. It is daunting but also a wonderful challenge to think that what we do in these next three years will set the stage for what happens in the next world age which officially began on the 22/12/2012.
Not only do I believe that it is important for each of us to continue on our own spiritual journeys, but we need to be available to support others on theirs. This is not in the way of telling others what to do because we are all here at this time to experience our own journey. It is important to respect the journey of others and not infringe as we have no way of knowing what they have come here to learn. At the same time if they ask for your help, give them all you have and allow them to take what they need and continue on their journey.
My old teacher said it was the time of the quickening and for those who have the eyes to see or the ears to hear you can see this quickening in every aspect of our lives.
One of the reasons I have been feverishly writing my new book 'The Way of the Initiate - The Legend of the 33rd Sage,' is because I wanted to offer through story a simple guide to help others on their journey. It was also written like a parable with children in mind because I believe many young ones who have incarnated at this time are here to experience this quickening and be the leaders in the early years of the next world age. Unlike some of us they do not have to spend thirty or forty years to reawaken their spiritual beings. Many have come ready to hit the ground running, so to speak, and what they need is parents, teachers and mentors who understand what is occurring and can support them on their journey.

Blessings and Peace and may your connection with the higher self bring a smile to ever cell in your body and reflect it in the world around you.

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The 33rd Sage and the 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons and a number of online book stores or ask you local bookstore to order them in for you.

Twitter @GeofSpalding
Official Author Blog - the33rdsage.authorsxpress.com/
Translatable Author Blog - 33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/

Website www.33rdsage.com
Www.the33rdsage.com