Spiritual beings having a human experience... I've often thought that reality is a human construct, like time. It's a convenient way to categorize and define our experiences, but it's always seemed more fluid to me than that. Your post captures this well.
Only energy is real, and it can't be created or destroyed. We are infinite. This life is neither real nor infinite. I've believed and known for a long time. This is unsettlingly frightening and soothing together.
"We are infinite." Still one of the best things written by a grown man for a teenage boy to say, meaning more than one book could hold, and so relevant here. Too right, @Cheniece Patrick (not sure if it really tagged you or not). It is frightening and soothing at the same time.
I appreciate this newsletter a lot. It's why I waited to read it until my brain worked. I wanted to be able to read it with all of me and intake comments like this one. <3
Just because reality isn’t what we thought it was doesn’t mean that nothing matters. Quite the opposite! It means that what we always knew mattered: love, kindness, and compassion — these things matter more.
We often put what does matter last. That’s the lesson. We’re free to share more, love more and live more rather than have more.
I have known since early childhood that there is a spiritual energy connection and that much/many of our "musts/supposed tos/dictates of humans" are inconsequential in light of that foreverness that is our soul. Mortal life tries so hard to drag us down, but remembering energy, remembering perspective, helps me rise above the fear, anger, hurt that often assauts this existence. Thank you for your perspective.
Interesting! Do you notice that as you age you start to experience that more? Sort of like how babies and young children are so connected to the spirit world, older folks are as well? I could see that with the elders in my life. And my father-in-law before he died, spoke of a ghost that used to visit him often.
Yes, for myself a pursuit that began again when jobs lost meaning, recreating the inner space to pursue those connections that lead to higher spirit, to getting more focused on that path. Also, being a devoted reader, I dropped most fiction in favor of those authors and stories that speak to spirit. Then, there’s a path to focus on reading that moves you up to direct experience, leading to practices. Meditation for example.
I'm 57 and find things shift the older I get - I've noticed an improved ability to see things with a wider lens and less judgment. My way of showing up in the world, and the things I choose to be around, has changed a great deal. Perhaps this is why they say folks in their 70's are the happiest - they have this figured out more than the rest of us.
Definitely tickles my imagination and sets me thinking about how I can bend my current life circumstances spiritually. Vishen Lakhiani of "Mind Valley" mentioned in an interview recently that the Universe doesn't give us what we want; it gives us who we are. That's incredibly juicy!
Your description of quantum entanglement correlates- if that’s the right word - with a visitation in a dream last October by my long departed girlfriend. So much that’s happened since the dream has been beyond coincidental. Now, months later, the mystery continues to unfold and reveal itself. I look for hints of what it means and what I’m supposed to do with it all. Writings such as yours provide some illumination as I wander down this unexpected path.
So this is what came to me as I'm enjoying the conversation... We Are. Or are we Not... We will always wrestle with the Unknown. And the Unknown will always win!... But this is silly, right... cause it just doesn't matter!
"Knowing that energy is real, while unseen, gives me hope. Conjoining science, religion, and spirituality offer assurance that we extend beyond this small, insignificant life. The pettiness of life is immaterial. What does it matter when we transcend time and space?" Describes how I operated in my 20s...
Existential taquito humor is just what I needed, but I didn't know it until I read it. Wonderful that science is making progress into understanding this realm. I'm staying tuned for your story of marriage to a Venezuelan Witch - I need tips on that. P.S. - this is my favorite of all your pieces I've read, and love the artwork.
oh so many yummy things to consider. as one called to wander in liminal space (however one chooses to define that....) i resonate with so much of what you shared. and yes to entanglements!
I love struggling to comprehend entanglement...or is surrendering a better word than struggling? Have you seen the documentary "I am"? This was my introduction to these concepts and to cool things like the Heart Math Institute... And to the feelings of yogurt. It was also a beautiful hopeful look at human evolution as going not towards dominance but towards community. I actually have used the heart math breathing exercise where you get everybody's heartbeats in alignment as a teaching tool. My students did love the short meditation! Recently, my experience of entanglement happens as I study Druidry and write science fiction and do Tarot readings. In all three cases I feel how reality changes as I remember and as I envision and as I open myself to a new narrative from the cards and their imagery. I look forward to reading your mystical and scientific explorations in the next post.
Thanks so much, Heather! I'm writing down your words because I'm fascinated by so much you bring up here! I need to see that documentary! And many energy workers, witches, and astrologers are saying that the few thousand years will see humanity move from individualistic materialism to more of an idealistic communal orientation, which is awesome! I LOVE the idea of the heartbeat alignment meditation activity with students! I NEED to try that! And yes to Druidry and Tarot! More of that, please!
Along the same lines, you might be interested in another book, The Power of the Herd, by Linda Kohanov, and another book of hers, Riding Between Worlds.
Linda is one of my mentors; I learned with her how to combine some of the Heart Math Institute approaches with interactions with horses (at liberty on the ground, they're not ridden, usually). The Eponaquest approach, as Linda calls it, helps people understand themselves better as well as the non verbal aspects of their interactions with others, via interacting with horses.
Linda has participated in research associated with the Heart Math Institute that shows how proximity with horses can help regulate human heart frequency variations. This probably partially explains why her work, that has people interacting with healthy, mentally available horses at liberty on the ground, can greatly improve not just individuals' well being but also that of teams and relationships.
It's a fascinating approach that I'm so honored to have learned to work with.
Wow! Great thoughts, Heather! I was introduced to the Heart Math Institute through my work with others on the labyrinth path. Group labyrinth walks are a great way to align hearts with each other and now that you mention it, I will look up that breathing exercise to use during the next goup labyrinth walk I'll be facilitating on 3/24. ✨️
Last week I started reading a book called Fluke, by Brian Klaas which talks about all of the infinite number of possibilities in each moment. As I was reading, I thought “if there are infinite things that COULD happen, does that mean that all of those possibilities DO happen (basically alternate universes)? Then yesterday, exactly a week later, I read in the same book that this theory is called “the many-worlds theory.” It’s been blowing my mind ever since.
I feel I’ve known this for awhile. A lot of metaphysical books say pretty much the same thing - we’re living in a hologram.
I just don’t want this to make me nihilistic.
How do you, @summer and other readers reconcile this? How to really care about things when nothing really exists? It does and doesn’t, right? We’ve got to keep living. Is that part of the grand experiment? Putting in the energy of who we are?
I think you answered that in the question! Energy/ spirit is real, so as long as I keep that in mind, that my energy is powerful and has the power to transform and create more good energy, I can make the physical world a better place.
I go back and forth with this too, Elena. I go by the emotions most of the time, but life can suck us into uncomfortable loops of thinking we are more important than we really are. I used to worry and try to avoid doing anything that may upset someone else or put me in a position to be attacked. Then I read about how witches in Scotland were accused of magically stealing milk from cows. That was the turning point when I realized I can't predict how my existence may offend someone else, so I am going to become who I am instead of worrying about if my actions will make someone angry.
Check out Robert Cosmar on Substack. He has a well-defined explanation of consciousness. He has added a key concept to my understanding, maybe it will help you too.
Relationships exist, Elena. That's one of the powerful baselines of indigenous spirituality - which is living and attended to, bit an abstract. In terms of this discussion, you could also visualise a map and where many road cross (a town) that's a vibrating"you". But really it's all the different relationships coming together at the point. Same map idea works for time. Then, if you want, you can up there dimensions on the map. Wow, haven't thought about this stuff in a long time. Family and stress takes over every minute. I can feel other old thoughts unpacking their suitcases and yawning. (Magic as the inside of a golfball, compartmentalizing the world out of fear). But relationships, that's the key, the foundation for a living world view. ,
Sorry, I have to type on a phone... Don't know how exist got in there. Just, relationships. " Bit an abstract" should be "but not abstract." And why does the phone insist on changing golf ball into football? Thanks for inspiring me to reply, Elena
Love your altar. It looks like a diarama of most of my attempts at conversing with neuro-normals ("Do you like skulls?" I may happen to interject randomly). 😋
Spiritual beings having a human experience... I've often thought that reality is a human construct, like time. It's a convenient way to categorize and define our experiences, but it's always seemed more fluid to me than that. Your post captures this well.
Well put. “Reality is a human construct.” I love that!
Only energy is real, and it can't be created or destroyed. We are infinite. This life is neither real nor infinite. I've believed and known for a long time. This is unsettlingly frightening and soothing together.
💯
"We are infinite." Still one of the best things written by a grown man for a teenage boy to say, meaning more than one book could hold, and so relevant here. Too right, @Cheniece Patrick (not sure if it really tagged you or not). It is frightening and soothing at the same time.
I appreciate this newsletter a lot. It's why I waited to read it until my brain worked. I wanted to be able to read it with all of me and intake comments like this one. <3
Thank you! Yes, I enjoyed reading this too!
Just because reality isn’t what we thought it was doesn’t mean that nothing matters. Quite the opposite! It means that what we always knew mattered: love, kindness, and compassion — these things matter more.
We often put what does matter last. That’s the lesson. We’re free to share more, love more and live more rather than have more.
It's so much more meaningful, right? As long as I can keep that in mind, I'm good. Thanks for your comment!
I have known since early childhood that there is a spiritual energy connection and that much/many of our "musts/supposed tos/dictates of humans" are inconsequential in light of that foreverness that is our soul. Mortal life tries so hard to drag us down, but remembering energy, remembering perspective, helps me rise above the fear, anger, hurt that often assauts this existence. Thank you for your perspective.
Thank you, Shonda! 💕
Now getting close to 70, I find It doesn't matter (well, mostly doesn't) because I can get to that quantum entanglement frequently.
Interesting! Do you notice that as you age you start to experience that more? Sort of like how babies and young children are so connected to the spirit world, older folks are as well? I could see that with the elders in my life. And my father-in-law before he died, spoke of a ghost that used to visit him often.
Yes, for myself a pursuit that began again when jobs lost meaning, recreating the inner space to pursue those connections that lead to higher spirit, to getting more focused on that path. Also, being a devoted reader, I dropped most fiction in favor of those authors and stories that speak to spirit. Then, there’s a path to focus on reading that moves you up to direct experience, leading to practices. Meditation for example.
I'm 57 and find things shift the older I get - I've noticed an improved ability to see things with a wider lens and less judgment. My way of showing up in the world, and the things I choose to be around, has changed a great deal. Perhaps this is why they say folks in their 70's are the happiest - they have this figured out more than the rest of us.
It must be so freeing to see with a wider lens and less judgment. I'm trying! As soon as I say I don't judge I find myself judging, lol.
Oh I'm certainly in the trying stage as well! But I believe it's improving.
Ain't getting older grand!
Definitely tickles my imagination and sets me thinking about how I can bend my current life circumstances spiritually. Vishen Lakhiani of "Mind Valley" mentioned in an interview recently that the Universe doesn't give us what we want; it gives us who we are. That's incredibly juicy!
Yeah, i like that angle!
HOLY SYNCHRONICITY, BATMAN! I just listened to Alan Watts say PRECISELY THOSE WORDS this morning!
WOW! SeewhatImean?!
Your description of quantum entanglement correlates- if that’s the right word - with a visitation in a dream last October by my long departed girlfriend. So much that’s happened since the dream has been beyond coincidental. Now, months later, the mystery continues to unfold and reveal itself. I look for hints of what it means and what I’m supposed to do with it all. Writings such as yours provide some illumination as I wander down this unexpected path.
That's awesome. Wow, something to decipher and ride with, for sure! LMK what you find...
I definitely will. Your thoughts and input would mean a lot.
So this is what came to me as I'm enjoying the conversation... We Are. Or are we Not... We will always wrestle with the Unknown. And the Unknown will always win!... But this is silly, right... cause it just doesn't matter!
Haha! That sounds like one of the truest things I've ever heard.
"Knowing that energy is real, while unseen, gives me hope. Conjoining science, religion, and spirituality offer assurance that we extend beyond this small, insignificant life. The pettiness of life is immaterial. What does it matter when we transcend time and space?" Describes how I operated in my 20s...
Hallucinogenics? 😂
Well, I hit my 20s in the 70s 😆
Haha! Goals!
Existential taquito humor is just what I needed, but I didn't know it until I read it. Wonderful that science is making progress into understanding this realm. I'm staying tuned for your story of marriage to a Venezuelan Witch - I need tips on that. P.S. - this is my favorite of all your pieces I've read, and love the artwork.
Hi Tana!!!! Thanks so much! xoxo
oh so many yummy things to consider. as one called to wander in liminal space (however one chooses to define that....) i resonate with so much of what you shared. and yes to entanglements!
<3! yes to entanglements! love that
I love struggling to comprehend entanglement...or is surrendering a better word than struggling? Have you seen the documentary "I am"? This was my introduction to these concepts and to cool things like the Heart Math Institute... And to the feelings of yogurt. It was also a beautiful hopeful look at human evolution as going not towards dominance but towards community. I actually have used the heart math breathing exercise where you get everybody's heartbeats in alignment as a teaching tool. My students did love the short meditation! Recently, my experience of entanglement happens as I study Druidry and write science fiction and do Tarot readings. In all three cases I feel how reality changes as I remember and as I envision and as I open myself to a new narrative from the cards and their imagery. I look forward to reading your mystical and scientific explorations in the next post.
Thanks so much, Heather! I'm writing down your words because I'm fascinated by so much you bring up here! I need to see that documentary! And many energy workers, witches, and astrologers are saying that the few thousand years will see humanity move from individualistic materialism to more of an idealistic communal orientation, which is awesome! I LOVE the idea of the heartbeat alignment meditation activity with students! I NEED to try that! And yes to Druidry and Tarot! More of that, please!
Also, you might enjoy the book "The Power if Eight" by Lynne McTaggert. I am mid-read right now.
Along the same lines, you might be interested in another book, The Power of the Herd, by Linda Kohanov, and another book of hers, Riding Between Worlds.
Linda is one of my mentors; I learned with her how to combine some of the Heart Math Institute approaches with interactions with horses (at liberty on the ground, they're not ridden, usually). The Eponaquest approach, as Linda calls it, helps people understand themselves better as well as the non verbal aspects of their interactions with others, via interacting with horses.
Linda has participated in research associated with the Heart Math Institute that shows how proximity with horses can help regulate human heart frequency variations. This probably partially explains why her work, that has people interacting with healthy, mentally available horses at liberty on the ground, can greatly improve not just individuals' well being but also that of teams and relationships.
It's a fascinating approach that I'm so honored to have learned to work with.
I will check the power of 8 out 😊
me too!
Wow! Great thoughts, Heather! I was introduced to the Heart Math Institute through my work with others on the labyrinth path. Group labyrinth walks are a great way to align hearts with each other and now that you mention it, I will look up that breathing exercise to use during the next goup labyrinth walk I'll be facilitating on 3/24. ✨️
That is great to know about labyrinth walks!
Last week I started reading a book called Fluke, by Brian Klaas which talks about all of the infinite number of possibilities in each moment. As I was reading, I thought “if there are infinite things that COULD happen, does that mean that all of those possibilities DO happen (basically alternate universes)? Then yesterday, exactly a week later, I read in the same book that this theory is called “the many-worlds theory.” It’s been blowing my mind ever since.
Yes! And the idea that there are many versions of us somewhere... fascinating!
It’s totally fascinating. I can’t stop thinking about it.
Well, um...actually....goddamn, this was...
Can't find the appropriate adjective(s).
Thank you.
And that altar is beautiful.
I'll take goddamn. Thank you, Mark!!!!!
I feel I’ve known this for awhile. A lot of metaphysical books say pretty much the same thing - we’re living in a hologram.
I just don’t want this to make me nihilistic.
How do you, @summer and other readers reconcile this? How to really care about things when nothing really exists? It does and doesn’t, right? We’ve got to keep living. Is that part of the grand experiment? Putting in the energy of who we are?
I think you answered that in the question! Energy/ spirit is real, so as long as I keep that in mind, that my energy is powerful and has the power to transform and create more good energy, I can make the physical world a better place.
Love your response! Ty! You put it into very practical terms. Much appreciated. 💗
I go back and forth with this too, Elena. I go by the emotions most of the time, but life can suck us into uncomfortable loops of thinking we are more important than we really are. I used to worry and try to avoid doing anything that may upset someone else or put me in a position to be attacked. Then I read about how witches in Scotland were accused of magically stealing milk from cows. That was the turning point when I realized I can't predict how my existence may offend someone else, so I am going to become who I am instead of worrying about if my actions will make someone angry.
Check out Robert Cosmar on Substack. He has a well-defined explanation of consciousness. He has added a key concept to my understanding, maybe it will help you too.
Will do. Thank you, James!
Relationships exist, Elena. That's one of the powerful baselines of indigenous spirituality - which is living and attended to, bit an abstract. In terms of this discussion, you could also visualise a map and where many road cross (a town) that's a vibrating"you". But really it's all the different relationships coming together at the point. Same map idea works for time. Then, if you want, you can up there dimensions on the map. Wow, haven't thought about this stuff in a long time. Family and stress takes over every minute. I can feel other old thoughts unpacking their suitcases and yawning. (Magic as the inside of a golfball, compartmentalizing the world out of fear). But relationships, that's the key, the foundation for a living world view. ,
Sorry, I have to type on a phone... Don't know how exist got in there. Just, relationships. " Bit an abstract" should be "but not abstract." And why does the phone insist on changing golf ball into football? Thanks for inspiring me to reply, Elena
☝️ nodding to this!
Love your altar. It looks like a diarama of most of my attempts at conversing with neuro-normals ("Do you like skulls?" I may happen to interject randomly). 😋
Lol! The big skull was a gift from the play Hamlet and later we decorated it along with the other skulls for Day of the dead 💀