Buddha
THE STAGES OF HEALING, PART FIVE: AWARENESS TO UNDERSTANDING TO BEING
What comes after re-alignment, a great accomplishment in itself? Well, once you've gone that far, it's likely, I'd say almost inevitable, that you're going all the way.
Here's the fifth installment from my class on the Stages of Healing:
I’ve came to call this place of beingness “full permission living.” The phrase came to me spontaneously after I broke through my own character structure. I felt that I could now be more and more able, as time progressed post-character structure, to follow my desires, trust my impulses, act spontaneously – basically, do whatever I wanted – and that, in so doing, I could trust that I would be living in my own best interest, and in harmony with others and with life.
Full permission living is a place of being. Having moved from awareness to understanding to knowing, a person at this level of their development is simply a human…being. Eva Broch, in Pathwork Guide Lecture #127, delineates four stages of the evolution of consciousness: “automatic reflex, awareness, understanding and knowing.” (See Lecture #127 in this month’s reading assignment). Spinning off from that lecture, one can think of the movement through states of consciousness in the healing process as having four stages: awareness, understanding, knowing and being.
Awareness and understanding come by freeing up the mind. This is accomplished first by clearly seeing what is going on in one’s inner and outer life (awareness), and then making the cause and effect connections about the events (understanding). Awareness can begin increasing right in the first therapy session with the therapist’s initial reflections and assessment. Often in a first session, a patient may say in response to the therapist’s observation about something, “Oh! I never realized that before.” His awareness has been activated.
Understanding comes somewhat afterwards as connections are made mentally and repetitive patterns that were previously thought of as mysterious or cruelly random are seen in their predictable light. Hidden agendas, intentions and beliefs are accepted as personal realities.
Knowing comes with freeing up the emotions in the body. It is only from our gut, from within our bodies, that we can ever say “I know” something with certainty. That is why we say, “I just feel it”, when we are definite about something. The person who truly feels, knows their own truth confidently. Getting to a place of knowing takes hard work and determined effort. In addition to developing awareness and understanding, one must now undertake the “breaking” of the body’s defenses and armoring, and really feel, especially, at first, the difficult feelings of sorrow, rage and fear. This is the “point of no return.” If a person breaks through here - and it could take 6 or more years - they will never “go back” to their previous levels of functioning. They are on their way to being.
Being is just living, spontaneously and naturally, and comes from letting go. Of everything! It is living without attachment. Although awareness, understanding and knowing are part of being, they are incorporated now without effort, without thinking in the usual sense. Basic trust has been firmly re-established, but now combined with the knowledge, courage and wisdom of an adult
The re-establishment of basic trust leads to the rediscovery that at its base, life “works”, and that at our own cores, we are loving, creative, compassionate beings. At this phase of development, a person knows that he or she creates their own reality and he accepts responsibility for his creations without judgement or blame. She lives without attachment to outcomes, without regrets about past events, without worry about future happenings. Dualistic thinking falls by the wayside, and there is a true sense of oneness felt in connection with all others and with life. Body, mind and spirit are felt to be one. The person here doesn’t think of herself as “sick” when she has a symptom, but rather experiences pain as information and guidance. There is no irrational fear of death…or life. Perfection is not demanded from oneself or others. Life is lived spontaneously.
In one way, life at this point resembles life before therapy. Neurotic individuals operate pretty much automatically in their lives (coming from what the “Guide” calls automatic reflexes”), acting out the dictates of their unconscious mind unquestioningly. It is only the suffering that keeps intruding into their daily existence that makes them question what’s going on and seek out guidance. Their suffering is caused by the fact that the unconscious dictates they’re acting out are coming from the wounded child aspect of the personality. The healing of this wounded aspect in us requires a very intense and focused period of intrusive “excavation” into the unconscious mind and body. It is an immersion in self-examination, questioning, exposing, analyzing, surfacing, penetrating, releasing, cleansing, re-educating and re-aligning that takes years. (Sorry!)
However, once the “hard work” is done, in a sense the person can go back to living automatically again. Only this time, it is the most developed aspect of the self, the “higher self”, that is motivating actions more directly. This higher self aspect is also unconscious to the person for the most part, but the free adult can understand and sense its workings more clearly because now the ego has gone back to its original, natural function: observing. Whatever happens in the person’s life at this point, including what used to be thought of fretfully as obstacles, problems or illness, he just observes events without judgement or irrational fear, and accepts everything as information and guidance. The person here is identified with “that which observes”, rather than ‘that which is observed”, as Eva Broch puts it in Guide Lecture #189 (See this month’s reading assignment.) (Saint Thomas Aquinas described the realization at this level of consciousness this way: “Who we are looking for is who is looking.”)
Here's the fifth installment from my class on the Stages of Healing:
I’ve came to call this place of beingness “full permission living.” The phrase came to me spontaneously after I broke through my own character structure. I felt that I could now be more and more able, as time progressed post-character structure, to follow my desires, trust my impulses, act spontaneously – basically, do whatever I wanted – and that, in so doing, I could trust that I would be living in my own best interest, and in harmony with others and with life.
Full permission living is a place of being. Having moved from awareness to understanding to knowing, a person at this level of their development is simply a human…being. Eva Broch, in Pathwork Guide Lecture #127, delineates four stages of the evolution of consciousness: “automatic reflex, awareness, understanding and knowing.” (See Lecture #127 in this month’s reading assignment). Spinning off from that lecture, one can think of the movement through states of consciousness in the healing process as having four stages: awareness, understanding, knowing and being.
Awareness and understanding come by freeing up the mind. This is accomplished first by clearly seeing what is going on in one’s inner and outer life (awareness), and then making the cause and effect connections about the events (understanding). Awareness can begin increasing right in the first therapy session with the therapist’s initial reflections and assessment. Often in a first session, a patient may say in response to the therapist’s observation about something, “Oh! I never realized that before.” His awareness has been activated.
Understanding comes somewhat afterwards as connections are made mentally and repetitive patterns that were previously thought of as mysterious or cruelly random are seen in their predictable light. Hidden agendas, intentions and beliefs are accepted as personal realities.
Knowing comes with freeing up the emotions in the body. It is only from our gut, from within our bodies, that we can ever say “I know” something with certainty. That is why we say, “I just feel it”, when we are definite about something. The person who truly feels, knows their own truth confidently. Getting to a place of knowing takes hard work and determined effort. In addition to developing awareness and understanding, one must now undertake the “breaking” of the body’s defenses and armoring, and really feel, especially, at first, the difficult feelings of sorrow, rage and fear. This is the “point of no return.” If a person breaks through here - and it could take 6 or more years - they will never “go back” to their previous levels of functioning. They are on their way to being.
Being is just living, spontaneously and naturally, and comes from letting go. Of everything! It is living without attachment. Although awareness, understanding and knowing are part of being, they are incorporated now without effort, without thinking in the usual sense. Basic trust has been firmly re-established, but now combined with the knowledge, courage and wisdom of an adult
The re-establishment of basic trust leads to the rediscovery that at its base, life “works”, and that at our own cores, we are loving, creative, compassionate beings. At this phase of development, a person knows that he or she creates their own reality and he accepts responsibility for his creations without judgement or blame. She lives without attachment to outcomes, without regrets about past events, without worry about future happenings. Dualistic thinking falls by the wayside, and there is a true sense of oneness felt in connection with all others and with life. Body, mind and spirit are felt to be one. The person here doesn’t think of herself as “sick” when she has a symptom, but rather experiences pain as information and guidance. There is no irrational fear of death…or life. Perfection is not demanded from oneself or others. Life is lived spontaneously.
In one way, life at this point resembles life before therapy. Neurotic individuals operate pretty much automatically in their lives (coming from what the “Guide” calls automatic reflexes”), acting out the dictates of their unconscious mind unquestioningly. It is only the suffering that keeps intruding into their daily existence that makes them question what’s going on and seek out guidance. Their suffering is caused by the fact that the unconscious dictates they’re acting out are coming from the wounded child aspect of the personality. The healing of this wounded aspect in us requires a very intense and focused period of intrusive “excavation” into the unconscious mind and body. It is an immersion in self-examination, questioning, exposing, analyzing, surfacing, penetrating, releasing, cleansing, re-educating and re-aligning that takes years. (Sorry!)
However, once the “hard work” is done, in a sense the person can go back to living automatically again. Only this time, it is the most developed aspect of the self, the “higher self”, that is motivating actions more directly. This higher self aspect is also unconscious to the person for the most part, but the free adult can understand and sense its workings more clearly because now the ego has gone back to its original, natural function: observing. Whatever happens in the person’s life at this point, including what used to be thought of fretfully as obstacles, problems or illness, he just observes events without judgement or irrational fear, and accepts everything as information and guidance. The person here is identified with “that which observes”, rather than ‘that which is observed”, as Eva Broch puts it in Guide Lecture #189 (See this month’s reading assignment.) (Saint Thomas Aquinas described the realization at this level of consciousness this way: “Who we are looking for is who is looking.”)
BY THE WAY...
...23% of all income is held by the richest 1% of the U.S. population, the highest level on record but for one year: 1928.
WOW! READ THIS & IT'S ALL OVER!
"A closer look at the life and career of John McCain" in Rolling Stone Magazine.
Here's an excerpt:
"In his current campaign, McCain has become the kind of politician he ran against in 2000. He has embraced those he once denounced as 'agents of intolerance,' promised more drilling and deeper tax cuts, even compromised his vaunted opposition to torture. Intent on winning the presidency at all costs, he has reassembled the very team that so viciously smeared him and his family eight years ago, selecting as his running mate a born-again moose hunter whose only qualification for office is her ability to electrify Rove's base. And he has engaged in a 'practice of politics' so deceptive that even Rove himself has denounced it, saying that the outright lies in McCain's campaign ads go 'too far' and fail the 'truth test."
Here's an excerpt:
"In his current campaign, McCain has become the kind of politician he ran against in 2000. He has embraced those he once denounced as 'agents of intolerance,' promised more drilling and deeper tax cuts, even compromised his vaunted opposition to torture. Intent on winning the presidency at all costs, he has reassembled the very team that so viciously smeared him and his family eight years ago, selecting as his running mate a born-again moose hunter whose only qualification for office is her ability to electrify Rove's base. And he has engaged in a 'practice of politics' so deceptive that even Rove himself has denounced it, saying that the outright lies in McCain's campaign ads go 'too far' and fail the 'truth test."
REPOST: "SOUL AGES"
One of the conundrums I faced as a therapist for several years was why some people in therapy greatly improved their lot and rose to higher levels of self-actualization and some people did not. Even if they had similar backgrounds and similar problems, and even if an equal amount of effort and dedication was involved on the part of the patient and therapist, some would go much further than others.
Why?
If all things were equal, including my input and talents as a therapist, why couldn't all of my patients within a certain range make similar improvements in their conditions? It's kind of comparable to the age-old question of why two siblings of the same sex and fairly close in age with the same parents can so often turn out to be so dramatically different.
I really puzzled over this for a long time, especially after I began my training program for new therapists. I knew that they, too, would eventually come up against this dilemma, and would be inclined to assume that it was simply more resistance on the part of the patient, even though so much resistance had already been broken through.
As with all insights, the answer began to make itself clearer and clearer in my mind as I progressed on my own inner journey and self-work, and as I worked with more and more people in treatment. But it also required a "spiritual perspective" to finally arrive at an understanding that we human beings were more than just our bodies and brains, more than our genes and experiences; we were also "energetic beings," imbued with a "soul force" that was unique in both quality and quantity in each person. I became aware that people had different "amounts" of spiritual energy or "chi," and therefore, what each person could achieve in a particular lifetime had specific parameters.
Wow! With that lightbulb, things began clicking into place, and as a result, I became more patient with my patients, seeking to discover what each individual's innate potential was rather than pushing them to attain what I thought they should be aspiring to.
This evolution in awareness for me became further refined when I came upon the concept of "soul ages," in a book by Joya Pope, called "Upcoming Changes." (Joya's website on soul ages is a must read at: http://www.michaelteachings.com/soul_ages.html). The dominoes fell over in perfect harmony as I read about the characteristics of "Infant Souls," "Baby Souls," "Young Souls," "Mature Souls" and "Old Souls." I suddenly could see everyone I knew, including myself, in a brilliant new way. And of course it made complete sense: if human life parallels spiritual life, then why couldn't souls be at various stages of development (ages) in certain planes, too, as they are here on Planet Earth? The Soul Age material channeled by Pope even perfectly described the various countries and cultures according to soul ages, how certain like souls will generally congregate together to work on similar issues of development. (I often thought that if our leaders had been aware of this reality, we would have taken a very different approach to the conflicts in the Middle East, but that's a different discussion.)
The potential in this understanding for eliminating judgement, including of ourselves, is great. I have read and reread the description of an Old Soul so many times because it always helps remind me of why I'm struggling with what I struggle with and why I'm thought of as an eccentric by some people, when I'm just being what I consider to be normal... for me! And likewise, if someone is a Young Soul, and therefore all about ambition and getting things done in the outer world, or a Baby Soul, mainly satisfied to attain the gratification of their survival needs, why would I judge them for being themselves?
Check it out at the website: http://www.michaelteachings.com/soul_ages.html
Why?
If all things were equal, including my input and talents as a therapist, why couldn't all of my patients within a certain range make similar improvements in their conditions? It's kind of comparable to the age-old question of why two siblings of the same sex and fairly close in age with the same parents can so often turn out to be so dramatically different.
I really puzzled over this for a long time, especially after I began my training program for new therapists. I knew that they, too, would eventually come up against this dilemma, and would be inclined to assume that it was simply more resistance on the part of the patient, even though so much resistance had already been broken through.
As with all insights, the answer began to make itself clearer and clearer in my mind as I progressed on my own inner journey and self-work, and as I worked with more and more people in treatment. But it also required a "spiritual perspective" to finally arrive at an understanding that we human beings were more than just our bodies and brains, more than our genes and experiences; we were also "energetic beings," imbued with a "soul force" that was unique in both quality and quantity in each person. I became aware that people had different "amounts" of spiritual energy or "chi," and therefore, what each person could achieve in a particular lifetime had specific parameters.
Wow! With that lightbulb, things began clicking into place, and as a result, I became more patient with my patients, seeking to discover what each individual's innate potential was rather than pushing them to attain what I thought they should be aspiring to.
This evolution in awareness for me became further refined when I came upon the concept of "soul ages," in a book by Joya Pope, called "Upcoming Changes." (Joya's website on soul ages is a must read at: http://www.michaelteachings.com/soul_ages.html). The dominoes fell over in perfect harmony as I read about the characteristics of "Infant Souls," "Baby Souls," "Young Souls," "Mature Souls" and "Old Souls." I suddenly could see everyone I knew, including myself, in a brilliant new way. And of course it made complete sense: if human life parallels spiritual life, then why couldn't souls be at various stages of development (ages) in certain planes, too, as they are here on Planet Earth? The Soul Age material channeled by Pope even perfectly described the various countries and cultures according to soul ages, how certain like souls will generally congregate together to work on similar issues of development. (I often thought that if our leaders had been aware of this reality, we would have taken a very different approach to the conflicts in the Middle East, but that's a different discussion.)
The potential in this understanding for eliminating judgement, including of ourselves, is great. I have read and reread the description of an Old Soul so many times because it always helps remind me of why I'm struggling with what I struggle with and why I'm thought of as an eccentric by some people, when I'm just being what I consider to be normal... for me! And likewise, if someone is a Young Soul, and therefore all about ambition and getting things done in the outer world, or a Baby Soul, mainly satisfied to attain the gratification of their survival needs, why would I judge them for being themselves?
Check it out at the website: http://www.michaelteachings.com/soul_ages.html
Deepak Chopra on Sarah Palin's Witchcraft"
Just found this. Deepak Chopra wrote a piece called, "Witchcraft and the White House", just before the VP debate.
Here's Deepak:
"The Constitution kept God out of politics in order to avoid the inflamed conflict that has mired this country since the Reagan revolution. But as long as religion does play a part, voters will keep casting ballots for their favorite brand of God. Therefore, I'd like to see the moderator for the next debate ask Sarah Palin if she gained the governorship of Alaska by exorcising witches at the behest of an African minister who prayed over her.
The YouTube video that shows that event is embarrassing enough, but my intention wouldn't be to embarrass Palin further. My intention would be to point out the absurdity and wrongness of turning religion into politics. As a Catholic, Joe Biden is entitled to hold beliefs that would disturb practicing Buddhists, Muslims, and atheists. Whatever position he takes on Jesus as savior of the world should be private. Sarah Palin should also be allowed to throw chicken bones in the privacy of her living room. But Palin, riding the crest of right-wing fundamentalism, insists that religion become a litmus test. Having done that, it's her own fault if she is exposed for her primitive beliefs. Being as far out of the mainstream as she is, the public should find out the truth."
Here's Deepak:
"The Constitution kept God out of politics in order to avoid the inflamed conflict that has mired this country since the Reagan revolution. But as long as religion does play a part, voters will keep casting ballots for their favorite brand of God. Therefore, I'd like to see the moderator for the next debate ask Sarah Palin if she gained the governorship of Alaska by exorcising witches at the behest of an African minister who prayed over her.
The YouTube video that shows that event is embarrassing enough, but my intention wouldn't be to embarrass Palin further. My intention would be to point out the absurdity and wrongness of turning religion into politics. As a Catholic, Joe Biden is entitled to hold beliefs that would disturb practicing Buddhists, Muslims, and atheists. Whatever position he takes on Jesus as savior of the world should be private. Sarah Palin should also be allowed to throw chicken bones in the privacy of her living room. But Palin, riding the crest of right-wing fundamentalism, insists that religion become a litmus test. Having done that, it's her own fault if she is exposed for her primitive beliefs. Being as far out of the mainstream as she is, the public should find out the truth."
The BOSS for OBAMA
Here's Bruce Springsteen on why he's supporting Barack Obama:
"I've spent most of my creative life measuring the distance between that American promise and American reality. For many Americans, who are today losing their jobs, their homes, seeing their retirement funds disappear, who have no healthcare, or who have been abandoned in our inner cities, the distance between that promise and that reality has never been greater or more painful.
"I believe Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and in his work. I believe he understands, in his heart, the cost of that distance, in blood and suffering, in the lives of everyday Americans. I believe as president, he would work to restore that promise to so many of our fellow citizens who have justifiably lost faith in its meaning. After the disastrous administration of the past 8 years, we need someone to lead us in an American reclamation project. In my job, I travel the world, and occasionally play big stadiums, just like Senator Obama. I've continued to find, wherever I go, America remains a repository of people's hopes, possibilities, and desires, and that despite the terrible erosion to our standing around the world, accomplished by our recent administration, we remain, for many, a house of dreams. One thousand George Bushes and one thousand Dick Cheneys will never be able to tear that house down.
"They will, however, be leaving office, dropping the national tragedies of Katrina, Iraq, and our financial crisis in our laps. Our sacred house of dreams has been abused, looted, and left in a terrible state of disrepair. It needs care; it needs saving, it needs defending against those who would sell it down the river for power or a quick buck."
You can read the whole piece here at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-springsteen/from-the-stage-at-the-vot_b_131966.html
"I've spent most of my creative life measuring the distance between that American promise and American reality. For many Americans, who are today losing their jobs, their homes, seeing their retirement funds disappear, who have no healthcare, or who have been abandoned in our inner cities, the distance between that promise and that reality has never been greater or more painful.
"I believe Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and in his work. I believe he understands, in his heart, the cost of that distance, in blood and suffering, in the lives of everyday Americans. I believe as president, he would work to restore that promise to so many of our fellow citizens who have justifiably lost faith in its meaning. After the disastrous administration of the past 8 years, we need someone to lead us in an American reclamation project. In my job, I travel the world, and occasionally play big stadiums, just like Senator Obama. I've continued to find, wherever I go, America remains a repository of people's hopes, possibilities, and desires, and that despite the terrible erosion to our standing around the world, accomplished by our recent administration, we remain, for many, a house of dreams. One thousand George Bushes and one thousand Dick Cheneys will never be able to tear that house down.
"They will, however, be leaving office, dropping the national tragedies of Katrina, Iraq, and our financial crisis in our laps. Our sacred house of dreams has been abused, looted, and left in a terrible state of disrepair. It needs care; it needs saving, it needs defending against those who would sell it down the river for power or a quick buck."
You can read the whole piece here at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-springsteen/from-the-stage-at-the-vot_b_131966.html
Today's Doggone Quotes
“Americans seem to be more comfortable with Republican presidents because they share the common frailty of muddled syntax and because, when they attempt eloquence, they do tend to spout a kind of Frontier Baroque.”
Alistair Cooke
"Darn right. And that, doggone it, brings us to a shout-out for the latest virtuoso of Frontier Baroque, bless her heart, the governor of the Last Frontier. Her reward’s in heaven. We could, following her strenuously folksy debate performance, wonder when elite became a bad thing in America. Navy Seals are elite, and they get lots of training so they can swim underwater and invade a foreign country, but if you’re governing the country that dispatches the Seals, it’s not O.K. to be elite? Can likable still trump knowledgeable at such a vulnerable crossroads for the country?"
Maureen Dowd (after quoting Sarah Palin's hits from the VP debate)
Alistair Cooke
"Darn right. And that, doggone it, brings us to a shout-out for the latest virtuoso of Frontier Baroque, bless her heart, the governor of the Last Frontier. Her reward’s in heaven. We could, following her strenuously folksy debate performance, wonder when elite became a bad thing in America. Navy Seals are elite, and they get lots of training so they can swim underwater and invade a foreign country, but if you’re governing the country that dispatches the Seals, it’s not O.K. to be elite? Can likable still trump knowledgeable at such a vulnerable crossroads for the country?"
Maureen Dowd (after quoting Sarah Palin's hits from the VP debate)
Tonight's Thought-Provoking Quote
"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking."
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Whew! The FPL Reader Hits on Fred & Wilma Keep On Coming!
Here's another item I just received from an FPL reader, "AS":
"Got this from a friend a while back. This is brilliant!
I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....
If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your white, working class grandparents, you're 'exotic and different.'
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers and slaughtering defenseless, endangered species from a helicopter, you're a 'quintessential American story. '
If your mother named you 'Barack,' you're a 'radical, unpatriotic Muslim.'
Name your kids' Willow,' 'Trig' and 'Track,' you're a 'patriotic maverick.'
Graduate from Harvard law School and you are 'unstable.'
Attend 5 different, small colleges before graduating, you're 'well grounded.'
If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
If your total resume is local weather girl (sports caster), 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with fewer than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're 'not a real Christian.'
If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a 'real Christian.'
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are 'eroding the moral fiber of society.'
If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system, while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're 'very responsible.'
If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
If your husband is nicknamed 'First Dude, with at least one DUI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and was once, and may still be, a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the U.S.A., your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now (?!)"
"Got this from a friend a while back. This is brilliant!
I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....
If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your white, working class grandparents, you're 'exotic and different.'
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers and slaughtering defenseless, endangered species from a helicopter, you're a 'quintessential American story. '
If your mother named you 'Barack,' you're a 'radical, unpatriotic Muslim.'
Name your kids' Willow,' 'Trig' and 'Track,' you're a 'patriotic maverick.'
Graduate from Harvard law School and you are 'unstable.'
Attend 5 different, small colleges before graduating, you're 'well grounded.'
If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
If your total resume is local weather girl (sports caster), 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with fewer than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're 'not a real Christian.'
If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a 'real Christian.'
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are 'eroding the moral fiber of society.'
If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system, while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're 'very responsible.'
If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
If your husband is nicknamed 'First Dude, with at least one DUI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and was once, and may still be, a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the U.S.A., your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now (?!)"
Wow! Another One Bites The Dust!
Another top-of-the-line Conservative intellectual writer, Charles Krauthammer, concedes the election to Barack Obama.
Here's Krauthammer on Obama:
"He's got both a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament. That will likely be enough to make him president."
Here's Krauthammer on Obama:
"He's got both a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament. That will likely be enough to make him president."
THE STAGES OF HEALING, PART FOUR: REALIGNMENT
If a person in therapy has developed basic trust and formed a genuine alliance with her therapist, has uncovered his inner beliefs and faced the childhood traumas they were based on without any glossing over, and finally, if he or she has freed herself up emotionally and physically, this person has broken through her character structure. This is an incredible and heroic accomplishment! If entering into therapy is reminiscent of the initial crisis of being born in a desperate state of need, then breaking free of one’s character structure is the equivalent experience to being “born again”, only this time into a healthy, loving inner environment with all the powers, faculties and wisdom of an adult.
This time around, the newly “born” person’s basic trust stays intact, because the patient has now become her own loving parent. So, the person can go about the business of exploring life, just like a well-loved and secure baby does, outside of the inhibiting armor of a defensive structure. Stimulation and sensations in the internal and external worlds are experienced as new again, and, as such, are felt to be both exciting and frightening at first. Just as the newborn child needs to learn how to walk and talk and orient himself to life on planet Earth, a newly opened adult needs to re-learn how to do those things outside of the cramped confines of an inhibited life and contracted or de-energized body.
Also like an infant who doesn’t have an identity based on roles or images yet, a newly released adult has a much more fluid and undefined sense of self. At first, many people at this stage of therapy complain that they feel “lost” or say, “I don’t know who I am anymore”, or “I don’t know where I’m going.” This feeling is not “replaced” with a new identity, however. Instead, the person, over time, gets used to living more like a spirit, free of the limited notions of a clearly defined self, and free from rigid ideas about space and time. More and more moments of exhilarating freedom and a humble but genuine self-confidence begin to infuse the person as a result.
Finally, like a baby who has no conception of the past or future but is totally in the moment, focused only on the immediate input to its five senses, the free adult is once again a sensate being, connected to the now. The richness of physical life and the importance of pleasure become clear. Judgments about one’s desires fall away. Ruminating about the past and worrying about the future no longer occupies the mind. The actualized adult’s ego is “repaired”, and assigned to its proper functions of observing, mediating and remembering, instead of controlling, punishing and suppressing.
This stage of the healing process is a time of getting used to expansive influxes of energy, and once again, as in infancy, it is a time of feeling emotions and sensations in one’s body intensely. The therapist needs to explain that the feelings of fear the patient is having now are not regressive, “old” feelings, but rather, they are appropriate, natural feelings of fear that anyone on a new adventure has. The therapist can reassure the patient that he or she will no longer be paralyzed by strong emotions, and that there is no longer the possibility of regression. This could take time, but now, for the person at this stage, time is an ally. The patient who has broken through his character structure has re-ignited his natural healing process and will only “get better” with the passage of time. This person will truly “age gracefully.”
Inevitably, at this time in the person’s development, sexual gratification and creative expression become paramount issues for the patient. No longer suffering “neurotically” (unconsciously repeating childhood scenarios symbolically over and over again), the patient now becomes focused on the adult needs to share deep intimacy and pleasure with another and to fulfill what Erikson called “generativity”, the desire to give back to the world and the next generation through creative expression. This will often be a time, regardless of the patient’s age, of going back to school, changing careers, and exploring one’s sexual nature, including for many, “learning” how to enjoy sex joyfully, without guilt or shame.
The therapist is mostly engaged in supportive counseling and “teaching” at this time, no longer needing to focus on uncovering hidden images and beliefs or unblocking feelings in the body. This patient knows her own story now and he can cry or laugh fully when the moment calls for it. Meditation and journal writing are very valuable tools to facilitate the process at this stage of development, because just as the body has to re-adjust to free living, so does the mind. Habitual ways of thinking and behaving will assert themselves occasionally, particularly under stress or fatigue, but since the person is now operating consciously, and not locked in her body, subtler techniques will bring him back to a centered, balanced place in shorter and shorter amounts of time.
This time around, the newly “born” person’s basic trust stays intact, because the patient has now become her own loving parent. So, the person can go about the business of exploring life, just like a well-loved and secure baby does, outside of the inhibiting armor of a defensive structure. Stimulation and sensations in the internal and external worlds are experienced as new again, and, as such, are felt to be both exciting and frightening at first. Just as the newborn child needs to learn how to walk and talk and orient himself to life on planet Earth, a newly opened adult needs to re-learn how to do those things outside of the cramped confines of an inhibited life and contracted or de-energized body.
Also like an infant who doesn’t have an identity based on roles or images yet, a newly released adult has a much more fluid and undefined sense of self. At first, many people at this stage of therapy complain that they feel “lost” or say, “I don’t know who I am anymore”, or “I don’t know where I’m going.” This feeling is not “replaced” with a new identity, however. Instead, the person, over time, gets used to living more like a spirit, free of the limited notions of a clearly defined self, and free from rigid ideas about space and time. More and more moments of exhilarating freedom and a humble but genuine self-confidence begin to infuse the person as a result.
Finally, like a baby who has no conception of the past or future but is totally in the moment, focused only on the immediate input to its five senses, the free adult is once again a sensate being, connected to the now. The richness of physical life and the importance of pleasure become clear. Judgments about one’s desires fall away. Ruminating about the past and worrying about the future no longer occupies the mind. The actualized adult’s ego is “repaired”, and assigned to its proper functions of observing, mediating and remembering, instead of controlling, punishing and suppressing.
This stage of the healing process is a time of getting used to expansive influxes of energy, and once again, as in infancy, it is a time of feeling emotions and sensations in one’s body intensely. The therapist needs to explain that the feelings of fear the patient is having now are not regressive, “old” feelings, but rather, they are appropriate, natural feelings of fear that anyone on a new adventure has. The therapist can reassure the patient that he or she will no longer be paralyzed by strong emotions, and that there is no longer the possibility of regression. This could take time, but now, for the person at this stage, time is an ally. The patient who has broken through his character structure has re-ignited his natural healing process and will only “get better” with the passage of time. This person will truly “age gracefully.”
Inevitably, at this time in the person’s development, sexual gratification and creative expression become paramount issues for the patient. No longer suffering “neurotically” (unconsciously repeating childhood scenarios symbolically over and over again), the patient now becomes focused on the adult needs to share deep intimacy and pleasure with another and to fulfill what Erikson called “generativity”, the desire to give back to the world and the next generation through creative expression. This will often be a time, regardless of the patient’s age, of going back to school, changing careers, and exploring one’s sexual nature, including for many, “learning” how to enjoy sex joyfully, without guilt or shame.
The therapist is mostly engaged in supportive counseling and “teaching” at this time, no longer needing to focus on uncovering hidden images and beliefs or unblocking feelings in the body. This patient knows her own story now and he can cry or laugh fully when the moment calls for it. Meditation and journal writing are very valuable tools to facilitate the process at this stage of development, because just as the body has to re-adjust to free living, so does the mind. Habitual ways of thinking and behaving will assert themselves occasionally, particularly under stress or fatigue, but since the person is now operating consciously, and not locked in her body, subtler techniques will bring him back to a centered, balanced place in shorter and shorter amounts of time.
Can the Pursuit Of Happiness Be A Pursuit?
"MIND BODY SHOP" had this comment about my "STAGES OF HEALING" series:
"Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities."
Hmm... I don't exactly agree or disagree with that ambiguous statement. On the one hand, any number of activities can be engaged in under the guise of pursuing happiness that are in fact distractions from one's general inner state of unhappiness. Not a winning strategy. On the other hand, there are definite steps that one must take in order to become free enough to experience a genuine state of happiness for more than just fleeting moments. These are the steps I outlined in the Stages of Healing class.
Next up, the fourth stage of healing: "Realignment."
"Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities."
Hmm... I don't exactly agree or disagree with that ambiguous statement. On the one hand, any number of activities can be engaged in under the guise of pursuing happiness that are in fact distractions from one's general inner state of unhappiness. Not a winning strategy. On the other hand, there are definite steps that one must take in order to become free enough to experience a genuine state of happiness for more than just fleeting moments. These are the steps I outlined in the Stages of Healing class.
Next up, the fourth stage of healing: "Realignment."
Wow! The FPL Readers Are Really Into Governor Yabba Dabba Do!
Here's something "Adriana" sent me today - Click on the picture for a better view: 
Today's Bonus "YABBA DABBA DO" Quote
"Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro had ideas you could disagree with. But Sarah Palin is perky and inscrutable at once, you betcha. She talks. We listen but we have no idea what's been said."
Erica Jong (Read the whole post here - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-jong/you-betcha-shes-doggone-c_b_131611.html)
Erica Jong (Read the whole post here - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-jong/you-betcha-shes-doggone-c_b_131611.html)
Today's "WHAT?!" Quote - How Confused Is David Brooks?
With a genuine effort at unbiased integrity over the past month, even though he is an entrenched conservative pundit, David Brooks has honestly and openly discredited the qualifications of Sarah Palin as a potential leader of the United States. But, you know, whenever someone is locked into a rigid system of beliefs and their accompanying ideology and dogma, it's hard to hold onto that integrity. Thus, after her preposterous presentation in last night's debate, using textbook psychopathic doubletalk, inappropriately seductive gestures and phrases, and repetitive and rote right wing soundbites, Sarah Palin apparently won Brooks over.
David Brooks, incredibly, had this to say in today's NY Times:
"On Thursday night, Palin took her inexperience and made a mansion out of it."
A MANSION?!
David Brooks, incredibly, had this to say in today's NY Times:
"On Thursday night, Palin took her inexperience and made a mansion out of it."
A MANSION?!
From "Bonni"
"Bonni" sent me this nice e-mail and link today. Good one, Bonnie
Thanks!
PL
Here's the link: http://www.drawger.com/zinasaunders/?section=comments&article_id=6181
Bonni:
"Thought you'd enjoy this. It goes well with your Sarah Palin as Wilma Flintstone theme. :) By the way, I stumbled on your blog just a few days ago (happy
accident... except there are no accidents ;)). Can't remember what I
was searching for, but I found you and have since added your blog to
my RSS reads. I really enjoy your writing. Thanks for taking the time
to share your thoughts and experiences. :)"
Thanks!
PL
Here's the link: http://www.drawger.com/zinasaunders/?section=comments&article_id=6181
Bonni:
"Thought you'd enjoy this. It goes well with your Sarah Palin as Wilma Flintstone theme. :) By the way, I stumbled on your blog just a few days ago (happy
accident... except there are no accidents ;)). Can't remember what I
was searching for, but I found you and have since added your blog to
my RSS reads. I really enjoy your writing. Thanks for taking the time
to share your thoughts and experiences. :)"
THE STAGES OF HEALING, PART THREE
Here is the third installment from my class on the Stages of Healing. This stage, all about feelings, is not one that is always reached by patients in therapy, and in fact, many traditional therapies don't even involve techniques that engage the body and the emotions directly. If your goal is happiness and health, however, this is a big one.
Energizing, Moving and Releasing Feelings
Whatever the person’s stated reasons for coming to therapy are, and regardless of the symptoms, the main problem of every “patient” (person in pain) is that they are not as happy as they feel they could be. (This does not mean that every patient’s “goal” in therapy is going to be finding happiness, nor does it mean that every patient is going to stick around until they do.)
Emotions are the movements of energy in the body which are perceived and interpreted by the mind in order to decide upon an action relative to the emotion. Joy, pleasure, love and happiness are emotions which, under natural circumstances, move us toward the sources of the “positive” stimulation. Pain, fear and anger move us away from the catalysts of those feelings. However, if we are unable to move towards the sources of pleasure or away from the causes of pain, as is the case when we are helpless and dependent in childhood, we go into a crisis that feels life-threatening to the child. The only recourse to the child in such a situation is to try and move away from the feelings themselves. To do this, she will clench her muscles and distort her body structure to inhibit the flow of energy. While this approach seems to avoid the unpleasantness of the “negative” feelings, it also makes the experience of happiness and pleasure equally inhibited.
These characterological defensive structures are built into the body as well as the mind and therefore cannot be dismantled with insight and awareness (the mind) alone. The body must be engaged in a therapy process if the aim is to facilitate the person’s full capacity to experience real happiness and pleasure. Only minimal and partial relief can be attained through minimal and partial therapies, and very often, the positive results of limited therapies often don’t last because the person’s basic defensive structure has been left intact. (In many cases, however, patients - and therapists - are satisfied with Freud’s “goal” for therapy, once expressed in his famous quote that “the best psychoanalysis can offer is a return to a state of common unhappiness.”)
A fully therapeutic bodywork psychotherapy includes working with the physical/emotional aspects of the person in the following ways: 1. Unblocking, loosening and strengthening; 2. Expressing; and 3. Restructuring.
Knots, kinks, contracted or overextended muscles, etc., can be directly worked on by the therapist to aid the unblocking, loosening and strengthening. Hitting, kicking, stamping, jumping, screaming, shouting, biting, etc., can all be used to facilitate the expression and release of long-held emotions. Corrective breathing and vocal toning, various posture and movement techniques and skeletal adjustments, as well as detoxifying, internal cleansing programs can all be used to help the freeing-up person restructure their bodies to prepare for “full permission living.” (Rolling can be used for everything!)
Energizing, Moving and Releasing Feelings
Whatever the person’s stated reasons for coming to therapy are, and regardless of the symptoms, the main problem of every “patient” (person in pain) is that they are not as happy as they feel they could be. (This does not mean that every patient’s “goal” in therapy is going to be finding happiness, nor does it mean that every patient is going to stick around until they do.)
Emotions are the movements of energy in the body which are perceived and interpreted by the mind in order to decide upon an action relative to the emotion. Joy, pleasure, love and happiness are emotions which, under natural circumstances, move us toward the sources of the “positive” stimulation. Pain, fear and anger move us away from the catalysts of those feelings. However, if we are unable to move towards the sources of pleasure or away from the causes of pain, as is the case when we are helpless and dependent in childhood, we go into a crisis that feels life-threatening to the child. The only recourse to the child in such a situation is to try and move away from the feelings themselves. To do this, she will clench her muscles and distort her body structure to inhibit the flow of energy. While this approach seems to avoid the unpleasantness of the “negative” feelings, it also makes the experience of happiness and pleasure equally inhibited.
These characterological defensive structures are built into the body as well as the mind and therefore cannot be dismantled with insight and awareness (the mind) alone. The body must be engaged in a therapy process if the aim is to facilitate the person’s full capacity to experience real happiness and pleasure. Only minimal and partial relief can be attained through minimal and partial therapies, and very often, the positive results of limited therapies often don’t last because the person’s basic defensive structure has been left intact. (In many cases, however, patients - and therapists - are satisfied with Freud’s “goal” for therapy, once expressed in his famous quote that “the best psychoanalysis can offer is a return to a state of common unhappiness.”)
A fully therapeutic bodywork psychotherapy includes working with the physical/emotional aspects of the person in the following ways: 1. Unblocking, loosening and strengthening; 2. Expressing; and 3. Restructuring.
Knots, kinks, contracted or overextended muscles, etc., can be directly worked on by the therapist to aid the unblocking, loosening and strengthening. Hitting, kicking, stamping, jumping, screaming, shouting, biting, etc., can all be used to facilitate the expression and release of long-held emotions. Corrective breathing and vocal toning, various posture and movement techniques and skeletal adjustments, as well as detoxifying, internal cleansing programs can all be used to help the freeing-up person restructure their bodies to prepare for “full permission living.” (Rolling can be used for everything!)
Today's Quote
"The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking."
John Kenneth Galbraith
John Kenneth Galbraith
Today's "YABBA DABBA DO" Quote
"Oh, I think they're just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying you know what? It's time that a normal Joe Six-pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency, and I think that that's kind of taken some people off guard, and they're out of sorts, and they're ticked off about it."
YOU GUESSED IT - Sarah "Wilma" Palin
Today's "How Pathetic Is This?" Quote
The McCain campaign barred New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd from traveling on their plane.
Here's Dowd:
"I had had a great relationship with John McCain for 16 years, through columns he liked and didn't like. So at first I thought it was a mistake and doublechecked with the press office. They said I was banned from both planes for 'the foreseeable future.' Then, McCain spokeswoman, Nicolle Wallace was gloating about it to reporters on the Palin plane. It was disappointing because I didn't think John McCain would ever be as dismissive of the First Amendment as Dick Cheney."
Here's Dowd:
"I had had a great relationship with John McCain for 16 years, through columns he liked and didn't like. So at first I thought it was a mistake and doublechecked with the press office. They said I was banned from both planes for 'the foreseeable future.' Then, McCain spokeswoman, Nicolle Wallace was gloating about it to reporters on the Palin plane. It was disappointing because I didn't think John McCain would ever be as dismissive of the First Amendment as Dick Cheney."
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