Zig Zag Zen

Overall: 8.3/10.0

This book is a beautiful collection of essays and art exploring the relationship between psychedelics and Buddhism. If you are interested in either of these consciousness-shifting reality changers, I recommend this book. 

The Individuation Process (Kelly)

Each human personality is like a unique oak seed. The soil we fall into is like the environment we are born into. Some soil is lush and nurturing, and we grow large and healthy. Other soils are dry, or filled with stones and sticks. Regardless of soil, the seed knows how to best use available resources, the seed knows how to grow around any stone, any stick.

The journey from seed to oak tree is like the journey the infant embarks on into adulthood. Jung called this journey the individuation process. The guiding principle that navigates the seed around the stones is what Jung calls our Self. The Self is another name for your Wise Woman. Unlike the seed, humans have Ego and we can choose to defy our Self’s guidance. Listening to your dreams will reconnect you to your Wise Women and will help you grow into the tallest, healthiest Oak tree.

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Conscious involvement in the individuation process doesn’t begin until the individual encounters a life altering crisis. In our culture, this will likely be when you go to college. Separating from the support your family gives you in a kind of trauma. Our culture doesn’t have many traditions or customs around preparing the child for this journey.

In tribal life, the young boy or girl was put through what is called an “initiation ritual” where the tribal elders would create an ordeal for the child to go through. An example is a boy is kidnapped at night and convinced he is about to be killed. Once the boy is weeping and pleading, the kidnappers remove their masks and reveal that they are the male tribal elders. They begin to teach the boy knowledge only the elder men know (tracking, shooting, skinning, etc.) The boy is now a treated as a man. The purpose of these rituals was to help the child move from childhood into adulthood.

Every single human has to let go of childhood and embrace adulthood. This is a wounding experience. It is this stage of life when the Individuation process starts. This is the moment this book is preparing you far. Your childhood is a safe place where Mom and Dad are lighting the way and you are relaxing in the back seat playing on your phone.

At some point, they park the car, you have to get out, and it is your turn to venture into the dark forest. Do not worry, you have quite a few years before you start your adventure. Do not shy away from this adventure either. One of the surest beliefs I have is that denying this essential human challenge is a mistake. You’ll be ready. It’ll be fun.

Shadow

When the individuation process begins, your dreams will grow in their intensity. You’ll start receiving a couple of reoccurring images. The most common one you’ll be encountering in the beginning is what Jung called the Shadow. Your shadow side will show itself in your dreams as someone of the same gender, around the same age as you, and she is normally an adversary, or creator of conflict within the dream.

Every human has within them the potential of every human action. Each of us has the potential to save a life, murder another, work hard, steal, teach or lie. Our shadow is made up of all the aspects of human nature we see as bad, wrong, awful, gross, etc.

Back to the Forest

The first step of the individuation process is bringing our Shadow into the light. Your flashlight is a powerful tool you don’t know how to use yet. Your fear fusing with the light will cause interesting shadows to dance in the forest. The gift of the shadow is that it is showing you parts of yourself you’ve never realized were there. Those ghosts lingering on the edge of your beam of light are potential allies. Have the courage to go towards the shadows and shine your light. You’ll discover what you thought was a monster actually is a fox, an owl, a wolf, a rabbit. Each animal represents human potential. They are all teachers. But you have to be brave enough to shine your light on the monster to gain the ally.

Practical Tip

When you become aware during a dream where your Shadow is represented, instead of fighting her or running from her, turn to her and hug her. Embrace her. This symbolically represents the most healing attitude during this stage of development. Love, accept, and embrace your Shadow. If done correctly, (which is an ongoing process, not something you finish), you’ll find that you stop judging others. Because the things we judge in others are actually the projections of the part of ourselves that we don’t love.

Understanding projection is one of the most useful tools I know. We cannot know another human completely. They are like a spotty mirror, and we project our own psyche onto them to fill in the holes. Everything another person does that upsets us, it is because they are reflecting back at us a part of ourselves we don’t like. When you love another, it is because their mirror is so shaped that they allow us to see a part of ourselves. Condemning the other wounds ourselves, loving the other heals ourselves.

Animus

Once you achieve an understanding relationship with your Shadow, you’ll begin encountering your Animus. Your Animus is a symbolic representation of your connection to your Wise Woman. The Shadow helps you understand your conscious mind more clearly. The Animus is the bridge from your conscious mind to your Unconscious mind.

Another angle to look at this is that the individuation process is a chore you’ve been given to clean an old house. The house is old and dirty, flickering lights and cob webs hug each room, scaring you. Coming to terms with your shadow is like changing all the bulbs, cleaning all the webs out, and having a beautiful and bright home you can live in. The Animus is you discovering a locked cellar door in the basement.

Your Animus will show up in your dreams as someone of the opposite gender, around the same age as you. Your Animus can be both positive and negative. The flavor of your animus is shaped by the relationship you have with the primary male caretaker in your early life. Wallace, Chris and I all took care of you when you were a baby so you’ll have an interesting variety of energies your Animus can use to communicate with you.

Your Animus represents your connection to your Wise Woman. If your Animus is positive, he will be a guide to your creativity and inner genius. If your Animus is negative, he may be mean, murderous, or assaulting. I doubt yours will be negative but if it is we’ll work through it together. The Greeks used women as oracles because if a woman is in sync with her Animus, she can reach a level of insight men simply cannot reach.

Back to the Forest

Once you’ve learned to trust and listen to the animals in the forest who you once thought were monsters, they’ll lead you to a cave. Here there is man waiting. This guide is magical and appears to you in a way that is unique to you. He may trick you if you don’t trust him. He may protect and guide you if you do trust him. Either way, the next stage in your journey is into that cave. Your animals and guide are coming along.

The purpose of this cave is to find your magic item. Your animals and guide will help you. Your magical item is creativity.

Practical Tip

The Anima/Animus stage of the individuation process, like the Shadow stage, is never finished. It is a regulating process in our psyche that is ongoing our entire life. Hopefully by the time you are at this stage of life, you’ll have been recording and trying to understand dreams for years. If you have, your Animus will help you find what your unique creative expression is. We emerge from the cave once we’ve found this magical item.

Self

The third and final image we see in dreams is the Self. This is your Wise Woman. She will appear in dreams as a magical child or wise elder of your gender. These dreams are rare and are very important. The Self can also show itself as a royal couple of two magical animals of opposite genders. The Self also appears as magical stones.

Your Self is that growth principle that guides the little seed into the great oak. These kinds of dreams will normally offer advice or will show you something that will create a deep sense of peace and ease in you when you wake up.

But like the Shadow and your Animus, the Self has a dark side. The dark side of the Self is extreme hubris. An example of that is if you start to think you understand the entire universe or that you’re the smartest person alive. This can be very dangerous. Listen to your dreams and stay humble.

Back to the Forest

You’ve emerged from the other side of the cave. The cave exit is the side of a mountain and below you see the immense beauty and chaos that is reality. With your animals, guide, and magical item, you see before you the world. Billions of people in millions of different groups. You see a beautiful mountain on the opposite side of this billion headed mass. There is a little garden. You know that is the place you will die. There is no fear, only a deep sense of peace. For the next dozen decades, you get to dance in that mess, but your Self will guide you to that garden.

The animals, and guide, and magical talisman are your tools. To keep them sharp and useful, stay connected to your dreams.

Tribe

As you descend into the fray, you’ll attract others. They’ll see your fox, your owl, your talisman, your guide, and you will attract to you the exact people that fit. Recognize that each of these people are on the same journey you are one. Love them, accept them, help them, and dance with them. 

The Cube Game

I’m going to ask you to imagine a few things. They don’t need to make logical sense. Use the images that come to you first. The more you try to consciously alter the images, the less genuine your results will be. The more detail you share the better. Relax. (If I was doing this with you in person I’d ask you to close your eyes but that won’t work here.)

Desert

Okay, you are in a desert. Describe the desert. Any landmarks? Anything worth noting?

Cube

Now, there is a cube. Describe this cube.

Let as much detail naturally come to you as you can. Here are some questions to help dig up more detail.

What is your cube made of?

Where is your cube in relation to you?

What position in space is your cube? (Flat on ground, floating, sideways, spinning, etc.)

What color is your cube?

Ladder

What is it made of?

Where is it in relationship to the cube?

How many rungs or steps does it have?

Horse

What kind of horse is it?

Where is the horse?

What is the horse doing?

How does the horse feel about you? How do you feel about the horse?

Does the horse have a saddle or a bridle?

Storm

What kind of storm is it?

Where is the storm relative to you?

Is the storm effecting any of the other objects?

Flowers

Where are the flowers?

How many are there?

What color and what kind are they?

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Take a moment to be with the scene you’ve created. What we are doing here is a cognitive function unique to our species. It is this function that has helped us ascend to the top of the food chain. Our tools, our religions, inventions, arts, and the card you drew your mom all come from this place. It really is magical. Our imagination is the godliest part of our consciousness. This is the Promethean fire. 

Message me your answer in whatever electronic medium you like. When I can, I'd like to help you interpret it and then, if you'd allow, I'd like to put it on here. We'll change your name for privacy. I genuinely think one of the most important skills we can cultivate is symbolic thinking and this game is a beautiful way to train that mental muscle. I love you and Namaste. 

The Body

Our bodies are the vehicles in which we experience the world.  It is the zeitgeist of my country that the soul is separate from the body, and ignoring easily offerable rebuttals to this mystical notion, they still must accept the fact that their souls dwell within these flesh vehicles and are influenced by them.

Now, I have experienced moments where I felt a distinct separateness between ‘me’ and my body. These moments have been some of the most profound moments of my life, but they are always fleeting and temporary. These moments should be pursued, but the baseline existence….

Fuck this.

I feel obligated to write highbrow, or at least my poor attempt at highbrow, but why? If I want my message to impact the most people, which is what I want to do, and I want them to be able to use the information to better themselves, which I want them to do, than shouldn’t I write in a style that the majority will be able to digest?

Well this won’t fit in a tweet.

But I can write in a conversational manner, and I should. I should also condense any major points into short video clips. Also, if I can learn how, or find someone to do this with me, create music that extends the same message. Basically, there are new mediums at our disposal to distribute ideas. Writing is still good, but I should roll with the tide if I want to impact the greatest number of people in a beneficial manner.

So, what I was trying to spill out at the beginning of this post is the importance of our bodies. It is the primary way you interact with the world. Take care of it! Eat well, work out, have sex, meditate, forgive yourself, and do yoga.

I have a theory that 99.9% of us don’t have full control of our body. We cannot do things it is capable of because we haven’t learned how too. I’m not talking telekinesis, but handstands, back flips, yoga poses, and things like that.

The hypothesis, is that people with control of their bodies, and those who improve control, are much more confident. This confidence can translate into happiness, douchbaggery, or evil depending on your philosophical perspective on life and reality.

Give it a try. This is a page I found 2 days ago and I’m going to start attempting the moves today. If I can keep some semblance of organization, I’ll update this post with my progress.

About my Ego

I've been taught to lead with, "a college graduate with a Bachelor's of Science in Cognitive Psychology."

I'm passionate about psychology, philosophy, epistemology, self-help, psychedelics, psychiatry and writing. This blog is where I play.

If you are in need of help, or wanting to collaborate, my contact info is on the right.

Namasteezy.

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I wrote this "Disclaimer" in 2011. I think I honor my younger, more passionate but more naive self by keeping this here:

I am a human. I have bias. I will never be completely objective. Everything I spit out has been churning beneath my consciousness for an unknowable amount of time, undetected.

I also have no answers. Be wary of any who claim they do. What I offer is a particular perspective. I have a view of reality forming in the inaccessible parts of my mind, which I wish to attempt to articulate. I believe this perspective, if I am capable of communicating it properly, would be an ideal way to live in the 21st century.

I believe we have unique problems and tools that the philosophers of old did not have and could not have predicted.

Ultimately, I am just one man. A relatively young and naive one. But it is this naivety that allows me to believe that I can offer an idea that could change the world. I wish to always carry this delusion along side my skepticism.

Thank you. 

How to be Receptive to Dreams (Kelly)

Believe

“We recounted our dreams because one of the best ways to induce dreams is to give attention to dreams.” –Aldous Huxley

The first step towards remembering your dreams more is to try to remember your dreams more. I have a little desk next to my bed, with a lamp, a notebook, and a pencil ready to go whenever I roll over. I suggest you do the same. Something about using my phone never worked for me. But I encourage you to experiment with using your phone, a recording app, or an old school notebook and see which one works for you.

At the beginning, it may be hard to remember your dreams, but write down anything you can remember. Even if it is only a single word, record something. You will start to remember more. A good trick is when you wake up, go over the dream in your head right away. Don’t move. Start from the last thing you remember and work backwards. Once you get to a point where you can’t remember anymore, roll over to your journal and start writing.

More Tricks

A few more tricks you can use to help dream recall is to look at your dream journal as you are falling asleep. This will prime your mind to think symbolically, which is the language of dreams. Also, you can practice simply telling yourself, out loud, “I remember my dreams. I have interesting and meaningful dreams.” If you’d like I can send links to the science behind this. Try it out if you need the extra little boost.

Naskapi Indians

Here is a beautiful perspective on the meaningfulness of dreams and how to be more receptive to them by the Naskapi Indians. This quote is from Man and His Symbols, a book written by Carl Jung.

                “In his lifelong solitude, the Naskapi hunter has to relay on his own inner voices and unconscious revelations; he has no religious teachers who tell him what he should believe, no rituals, festivals, or customs to help him along. In his basic view of life, the soul of man is an “inner companion,” whom he calls, “my friend” or Mista’peo, meaning “Great Man.” Mista’peo dwells in the heart and is immortal; in the moment of death, or shortly before, he leaves the individual and later reincarnates into another being.

                

                 Those Naskapi who pay attention to their dreams and who try to find their meaning and test their truth can enter into a deeper connection with the Great Man. He favors such people and sends them more and better dreams. Thus the major obligation to the individual Naskapi is to follow the instructions given by his dreams, then to give permanent form to their contents in art. Lies and dishonesty drive the Great Man away from one’s inner realms, whereas love and generosity of one’s neighbors and of animals attract him and gives him life. Dreams give the Naskapi complete ability to find his way in life, not only in the inner world but the outer world of nature. They help him foretell the weather and give him invaluable instructions in his hunting, upon which is life depends.”

We don’t realize it, but we are like these Indians. Scientific thinking and mass media has left us disconnected from tradition, religion, and tribal communities. This passage is important because it highlights how useful dreams can be to the disconnected. This tribe has none of Modern Society’s technology or knowledge, yet they have survived. Not with religion or science but by listening to their dreams. Their instincts have guided them. Imagine how skilled you could navigate the waters of life if you learned to use our modern technology, the scientific method, and dream interpretation.

You, and every individual, has the possibility of connecting to a much deeper energy. And the way to connect to this force is to attempt to record and understand your dreams. The Naskapi also believed that being a good person and turning your dreams into art helped build this connection even more. I’ll let you experiment with this.

Reconnect

Our body is pulsating with instincts that successfully guided us through time for millions of years. From the moment we are born into culture, we are slowly taught to suppress and channel these instincts into behavior our culture finds acceptable. Listening to your dreams will help you reconnect with your instincts, your inner Wise Woman.

Summary

To receive more dreams, want to receive more dreams. Record your dreams using whatever method works for you. Every morning write something, even if it is only a single word. If you are in need of more help, read about dreams as you are falling asleep. Tell yourself while you are laying down in bed that you have interesting dreams and you remember them.

For extra credit, create any kind of art that was inspired by your dreams. I love you and don’t get discourages. Focus on taking a single step through the dark forest every day. One step. Good luck. 

Why dreams are meaningful. (Kelly)

I want to try to explain to you that dreams are meaningful. So I feel the need to explain how some smart people, who devoted their lives to studying the psychology of humans, came to the conclusion that dreams are meaningful. But it has dawned on me that you don’t need to be convinced. You aren’t a professor I’m trying to impress or a colleague I’m trying to persuade, you’re my sister and you trust me.

I’m going to introduce Carl Jung and a few of his ideas with the hope that it will give you a framework that’ll help you understand. Communicate with me anything that doesn’t make sense.

Carl Jung

 “Dreams are compensations for the conscious attitude.” – Jung

Carl Jung lives on in my mind. When you read someone’s books, you start to recreate them in your brain. Reading revives dead writers. This entire book is going to be alive with the energy Carl Jung has put out into the world, as remixed through my ego.

Jung was a psychiatrist. He interpreted over 40,000 dreams (fact check.) He was an acclaimed and highly respected scientist. He is a good source of knowledge and he believed dreams were meaningful. I think they are too. I hope to convince you of this too. At the very least, consider this practice using the scientific method.  

Jung offered a handful of essential ideas. The one most important concerning dreams is his assertion that dreams are an expression of nature that has been built into our psyche to help balance our conscious living. Dreams are a natural guiding program built into our brain.

Instincts and Archetypes

Humans are animals. We share over 98% of our genetic code with chimps and bonobos. For millions of years our ancestors survived without egoic consciousness. They survived on instincts. Humans are bundles of instincts. Instincts are to our body what electricity is to a computer.

I don’t know of a definitive list of instincts. We may not know exactly how many there are or what exactly they are, but just like your body can use the food you eat without you needing to know the complex biochemistry, you can benefit from listening to your instincts without having to understand them. Your instincts will speak to you through your dreams.

This is a complicated subject that you don’t need to understand completely yet, I don’t. What is helpful here is to understand that dreams are the language our instincts use to communicate with our egoic consciousness. While we are awake, our egos do a very good job suppressing our instincts so we can live by the rules our culture and parents and teachers press on us.

Rules, culture, and our parents aren’t evil. They don’t do this suppressing on purpose. All of them were born into this just as we are. They were molded by the environment too. It is beneficial to the stability of our culture that we suppress a great deal of our animal instincts. Regardless of why, the suppression of our instincts leaves us wandering through a forest at night, without a guiding light.

Our dreams are essentially an attempt at homeostasis. They are a kind of flashlight we can use in the dark forest. When our instincts and conditioned behavior conflict too severely, our dreams will step in and send a flash of light. This book is a beginner’s guide to start practicing how to listen to your dreams, and to start understanding the language dreams speak.

The goal is that if you learn to listen to your dreams, you will receive flashes of light every night which will help you move through the dark forest with a grace most people will see as superhuman.

Psyche

Psyche is the word Jung used to explain the entirety of the human psychological structure. The part of you that is reading this, the part of you that thinks it is named Kelly Godsey, is what Jung called the Ego. The Ego is like the human skin. The psyche is like the entire body. Thinking the Ego is the entire psyche is like thinking the skin is the entire body.

There is a famous saying that you’ll see often, and it is “Know Thyself.” Where many people stumble is thinking that learning about their ego is the same as knowing “thyself.” Thyself is the psyche, the ego is only a small part of this vast psychic building.

Dreams arise from a place in the psyche that the Ego cannot access. Dreams are a kind of message in a bottle. The thinking mind is stranded on the island of the Ego. Every morning, if we look, we can find a few bizarre messages from an unknown place beyond the oceanic horizon. If we learn to read these, we’ll start to find instructions on how to build a fire, purify water, fish, and one day, we’ll get the instructions on how to build a boat. The entire time, through all your stress and trials, there is a wise guardian watching you, helping you, and it is you.

Dreams can be thought of like your psychic immune system. As your physical immune system will create a rash or a blemish on your skin, it is not to punish you, it is to send you a message. Something is out of balance. It is a language most of us don’t understand how to speak. Its goal in attempting to communicate is to restore balance. We’re going to learn how to listen.

Conscious and Unconscious

Jung divides the psyche into two fundamental parts; the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The conscious mind mainly consists of your ego. It is also the part of your mind that has all your personal memories. Anything that ever was conscious to you, is swimming somewhere in your conscious mind. You can think of the conscious mind as a beautiful ship floating at sea.

Your unconscious is the part of your psyche that you can never know. It is the ocean that supports your ship. Your ego is cute and useful, but your unconscious is of a size and power that your ego can not comprehend.

 Jung believed the unconscious was where all the Instincts dwell. Your instinct to protect yourself from danger lives there. Your instinct to pass on your genetic code is in there. Your instinct to be curious lives there. The instincts are the massive, interested wales that swim beneath your ship. They will stir the waters or bump the ship. This may scare the crew, but the purpose is to help and guide. 

Learn to listen.

Another angle is to think of the conscious mind as a growing oak tree. The unconscious is the guiding and protecting energy pulsating within the little seed that will do its best to guide the seed through time and into its fully developed form, the grand oak tree.

If there is a fungus that starts to attack the tree, the unconscious starts producing chemicals to fight the fungus. It knows how to convert light to food, it knows how to defend against bacteria and bugs. Similarly, your unconscious knows how to metabolize your food, keep your lungs and heart working, and what hormones to produce to help you grow.

Dreams as Regulating Function

Humans are different from all other life on earth. We have the Ego. The Ego gives us a sliver of freedom. This freedom is a great gift but comes at a cost. We are free to ignore our unconscious and make choices that impede our growth.

I don't know why we have an Ego but we do. Dreams are a way we can reconnect with the guiding growth energy in our unconscious. Your dreams will offer you advice and commentary on your daily choices and challenges.

Life is challenging Kelly. Don’t wish it to be easier. Adapt and meet life’s challenges with courage, humor, and love. I truly believe that learning how to listen to your dreams is a key habit in helping you do this.

MDA Christmas (ended up a rant.)

Last time I took MDA was at Wakarusa, six months ago. Today I celebrated a new annual tradition with a few of the people I consider family. We each ingested a little over an average dose of MDA and exchanged Christmas presents.

The linguistic net “family” doesn’t capture this bond as well as the word Tribe does. These people feel like my people. More than blood, or creed, or political idealization.  I’m truly grateful. I don’t know when it happened, but once I learned how to allow others close enough, this kind of bond has started weaving its way into most of my relationships.

Its interesting to play with the metaphysical idea that destiny is a real energy guiding us monkeys and that we participate in this dance. When I look back at the experience through the Destiny Goggles (TM lol), I see some interesting synchronicities. Two separate, unannounced, beautiful woman showed up at my house the day of the MDA experience. Both separately, and at different times, ended up sharing stories of their closest intimate relationships.

The music they sang were songs of miscommunication, unhappiness, and confusion. So many people I know do not have a single human they can be completely unguarded around. They don’t have one bond, even with themselves, where they know they are completely accepted. You can look these people in the eye and see the part that is begging to be accepted. And you can see that some crueler part has convinced itself to not dare expose themselves.  

We unconsciously attract to us the relationships that fit our unique dysfunction. I don’t know exactly when the shift occurred in me, but I give thanks every day, because at some point, I clicked in a way where the vampires started drifting out of my life and the angels came gliding in.

I know one of the factors that contributed to this shift was MDA. This chemical, which, like all drugs, are only a catalyst for states of consciousness our biochemistry is already capable of experiencing, healed the faulty programs Shame 2.3 and Guilt 2.3 that constantly ran in my subconscious. The angelic hug MDA gives the nervous system was enough to allow me to accept me.

“All is metaphor, even this.” And all metaphor is a lame comparison to the actual experience. These words don’t do justice, and the experience of complete self-acceptance requires a lot of ground work.  But once it is done, your self-love acts as a kind of planetary gravity that begins to draw to you the souls you are meant to be around. Or at least my drug-riddled delusional brain thinks so. And the opposite is true. If your core churns with self-hate, self-condemnation, guilt, and shame, you will attract to you negative energy, vampires, and other broken, angry souls.

But playing with the Destiny Goggles (TM lol), lends a beautiful perspective to all of this. Every challenge, every personal shitty relationship that collides with our planet, is meant to be. Each challenge is exactly the challenge we need, right now, to grow in the exact way we need to, in order to become enough to adequately answer the question the universe has asked itself in the form of our unique biochemistry. But again, only a perspective, and one that is too optimistic for the self-loathing, depression-addicted skeptic.

All knowledge are models the finite human projects onto the infinity to try to make some sense of it. All is debatable, even this. Be brave enough to choose to play with different reality tunnels. Play with different models of reality like a child plays with different crayons.

This post was intended to be about the beautiful experience I shared with some of my tribe. It turned out to be something else entirely, but still very inspired by my trip last night. I feel overwhelming lucky. I feel obligated to try to help other people reach this kind of peace. My creative tool is the written language so I type. These people I call my tribe are people who have helped me heal myself.

If you have made it to these words, firstly, thank you. I feel like I rambled and you’re sweet to have stayed with me this far. You have a creative skill. Feed it. Train it like a Pokemon. Play with it. I think connecting to this creative energy inside you is one of the ways to start shifting the gravity you give off. This is one way to shed the muck you may have stuck to you.

And if you don’t think you are creative, which is a delusion your ego has accepted likely due to disapproving authority figures in your childhood, at least play with the Destiny Goggles (TM lol), and see your struggles as challenges God has given you that will help you grow into the You you are meant to be.

***

I really missed the mark I was shooting for with this post. But I trust that this post is exactly what one of you needed and I hope it resonated. I love you and seriously, read and follow the instructions in The Artist’s Way.  Or spend a year or so studying Carl Jung and lets talk over mushrooms. Lol. Namasteezy. 

How I tried explaining enlightenment to my 14 year old sister.

Enlightenment is a word we use to explain something that is beyond language. The feeling is like water, and English is a kind of net sold at Walmart. But most people know about the enlightenment net so we can kind of talk about the feeling that the word enlightenment tries to capture.

So, the feeling of enlightenment is like…imagine that your whole life you’ve been under water and haven’t realized it. Enlightenment is like being quickly pulled out of the water by some invisible force, and you realize you’re at the peak of a huge tidal wave, and you can see all around you, thousands of people right below the surface of the water. You can’t see where the wave is headed.

Its like putting a circular object right up to your eyes, the object is so large you can’t see past the curve. So, you’re above the water, seeing all these underwater creatures, and you feel you’re headed somewhere, but its propelled by some force beyond human.

I don’t know why, but the feeling one has when they are above the water, is a deep kind of peace I know words can’t convey to your hormone exploding body, but it is a peace you knew when you were a baby and we held you and rocked you to sleep.

We feel that feeling when we are above the water. But here is the saddest part about this experience. It ends. It always ends. It does not matter how smart you are, how much you meditate, how many likes you get on social media, you can not stay.

This enlightenment at absolute best might last a couple of hours. Eventually, you fall back into the water.

The water represents our normal life. It may be hard to see, but our days are almost entirely made up of habits. Most of our habits we passively received from our caretakers, the media, and authority figures. I honestly think most of them can use refining.

Its like we’ve learned just well enough to keep your mouth above the water. I think the goal is to eventually modify your habits enough where we can at least keep your head above the water. Then we can start talking to and helping those around us. And eventually, maybe if we are lucky, we can get everyone’s head above water. Actually, I don’t know. I honestly don’t know if the wave can be stopped from crashing. But I think we can at least try to help our loved ones.

Thanks for letting me try to explain enlightenment to you. If you have any questions, text me.