By far the most influential book that I read when I first started seeking spiritual truth was Journey of Souls by Michael Newton. To me the idea of going to heaven and it being some lala land of perfection just never felt right. Perhaps, it's because I was born remembering a past life but I always believed in reincarnation....and the idea of the Christian Heaven and Reincarnation just don't fit together.
I love that Michael Newton was a skeptic, that he didn't believe, that he didn't seek to do past life readings like other people. That he stumbled onto life between lives is amazing. He just told someone to go back to when a trauma occurred and they went to a past life...and then he was able to verify the story. That what he cataloged was an apparently the same thing no matter the religious or ethnic background of his patients is also phenomenal. One of the reasons I adore this book is that it completely changes how we view 'life between lives.' We're told we go to happen and live happily ever after...not really what it is or what it is like. Maybe we get a Halo, wings and a harp...but as Mark Twain hilariously depicted that would get boring fast. I credit this book for breaking down the first idea barrier that I had held because of Christian Dogma. The idea that everyone eventually goes to the same place in the after life regardless of their actions...Yes, there was a sort of judgement but it was just a Past Life Review where the soul really decided how they had performed in the life. That to me was mind blowing...how could a murderer be forgiven? The really big questions aren't answered...but the idea that there is no Hell is huge and that there is a definitive after life that we all go to regardless of our religions...was a life changing idea. This book really should be on the shelf of any spiritual seeker. I still pick it up and ready it every now and then. The cases he uses as examples are fascinating. The material is presented in a very scientific fashion and it's really to the point. The ideas, the first time you read it...are so different that it does take a few times of reading the book before it really sinks in and the material just doesn't get old. The book is vibrantly different the anything else out on this subject and I have yet to find a book that even compares (even his sequels fall short of the magic revealed in the first book). I highly recommend Journey of Souls to anyone who is interested in the after life, reincarnation or grieving the loss of a loved one.
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The Higher Self is a concept that I never could quite wrap my mind around. To me it seems to be a concept that few people really dig deeply into understanding. Instead, people seem to expect it to be some sort of cheat code to the game of life. People ask how they can speak directly to their higher self so that they can know what to do, treating it more like a coach then a partner in this life and something that can control them like a puppet.
Not only do I think our human minds would resent such control but I think that it wouldn't be half as beautiful as the intricate relationship we have to our Higher Self. There have been many who have tried to approach this subject from very divergent paths. I can, by some ability I cannot quite understand, unite those paths into one voice and show people how all of these many paths lead to the same goal. The Higher Self In the Egyptian Book of the Dead In Egyptian sources the soul is called Ba and it's not to be entirely confused with our Earthly Existence (John Van Auken, 1999). The Ba is depicted as a human with a birds head, the birds body symbolizes the spirit or soul of a person. The Earthly body was called Ka and the goal was to unite the Ba and Ka so that the person could return to the celestial being it was before incarnating in this world (a Godling created in the image of the Creator). The two concepts are very separate and it's easy to identify the Ba as the Higher Self. (As for why this would happen at all, the idea is that we were immature psyche's in the beginning and we decided coming down to Earth and playing this game would be a good way to become wise quickly.) The Higher Self Depicted In The New Testament We can find a version of the Higher Self in the book of Luke using the same imagery as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, "When all of the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." Of course, it's not until we read Revelation (which was a vision and such things are on the same level as a Shamanic Journey or Dream. Revelation has many levels because the vision of the Higher Self is far more complex than our limited minds can comprehend) that we realize exactly what Yeshua did that was so different from other people but that analysis is for another post. I still do not understand what Yeshua did completely or what it means for humanity and I find the Church explanation lacking significantly in Truth (as one would expect of a regime that used religion to control people not enlighten them). The Higher Self in Journey of Souls In Journey of Souls by Michael Newton (1994) it is explained that there is a portion of the soul that never leaves heaven. That portion, to the others who remain in heaven appears to be 'sleeping' because it's entire energy is turned towards the human experience that it is undergoing. However, it can still be interacted with and can even go to meet those returning from the Earth plane experience. In fact, it's explained that the full energy of a soul cannot go entirely to Earth. This portion of the Energy of the Soul that remains in "heaven' or the spiritual plane would be the Higher Self. Further, it is explained that before a person Incarnates not only do they go over the life they are to have in detail- they learn the different cues in life and they know every potentiality of that life. As there are many different ways that a life can go the Soul, before it incarnates, tries to remember particular cues or reminders to keep it on the path where the Soul will experience the most growth. Therefore, the portion of the Soul (or Ba, if you prefer) does know the "lay of the land" and can help guide the portion of it's energy that's invested (or entombed) in the physical body. The Higher Self According to Bashar (Channeled by Daryl Anka) Perhaps some of the most entertaining perspectives I've ever heard regarding the Higher Self were given by Bashar. He described the Higher-self as a bird and the self as walking through a valley (reminiscent of Psalm 23). The Bird (Higher Self/Ba) can see that there is a hole and it tries to communicate it to the physical self through dreams and intuition. The Self (or human incarnation) keeps going ignoring their Ba (higher-self) and falls into a ditch. The Higher Self throws it's arms up in frustration. The higher-self doesn't want to be in the ditch anymore than the human self. It is only when the two (Ba and Ka, Human mind and Higher self) are working in conjunction that the human self can heed the warnings, turn back and go to the bridge spanning the crevice that it had missed, that was just a few miles back and did involve a little back tracking to find. The Higher Self According to Carl Jung This concept I did not come across until a chance discussion. However, it did provide an, "Ah ha!" moment. I was speaking to a man that believed that his Anima had more or less rejected him preventing him from continuing his soul's inner seeking journey. I realized my Animus takes up the form of my husband and that we go on many journeys together entering many portals in my dreams. When attempting to study this concept in depth further I have discovered a hideous amount of disinformation and confusing interpretations. So to cut into the pie, as it were metaphorically, I'm just going to state my interpretation. The portion of the person that remains in heaven is actually the opposite of the gender that we experience here on Earth. For example, my aspect that remains on the spiritual side is male. Jung explains that this part of the person's identity is plugged into the Collective Unconscious. As I have discussed before, this Collective Unconscious is more of The Consciousness (what some refer to as an Oversoul) but that is another post. More or less, I have found that I can improve my relationship with my Higher Self by improving the relationships we have with the opposite sex here on Earth. Once the two sides are working in union life becomes far more clear. There are many ways that this can be done, I am sure, but it's imperative to embrace the aspects that are the opposite gender of our own. The Higher Self Information from Collete Baron-Reid While reading the the book The Map by Collete Baron-Reid I found the last bit of the puzzle when it comes to the Higher Self. This goes into the conversation I was having with the person regarding his Anima that he felt had rejected him. The key with being in tune with the Higher Self is to fully embrace and integrate all your aspects. If we do not integrate (and choose to repress) parts of ourselves we won't have a relationship with our Higher Self. Instead, we create a Shadow Side to ourselves. Nature will run it's course (as the Catholic Priests discovered) whether we embrace it or not so the way of the monk is not the true answer nor is the idea of severing ourselves from the human experience everyone else has on Earth. "Another important part of this book grew out of the personal work I did toward healing my wounded ego. Pioneering psychologist Carl Jung called this unhealed ego the Shadow- it contains the parts of the self that we refuse, deny or repress. Until I was able to name and accept the parts of me that identified with my wounds, I was unable to become the person I wanted to be." (Colette Baron Reid, 2011). I can tie this in with the Egyptian Book of the Dead where the initiate Ani is asked who is Ra the reply is, "The creator of the names of his limbs, which came in to being in the forms of god's who are in the train of Ra, 'I am he who cannot be repulsed by the Gods." This is, in and of itself, an entirely different blog but suffice to say that it is part of the initiates journey to familiarize ourselves with all of our parts- especially by embracing that which we hate or we are the most ashamed. That which is resisted persist's as a good friend of mine, Michael Robert Schaumann, recently told me. What we repress becomes our Shadow. Given that people are currently seeing this Shadow aspect of themselves (and seeing it as menacing such as The Hat Man by Heidi Hollis) it's really important we deal with our Wounded Ego's and get in touch with our Higher Selves. However, there are many paths to this form of healing. The best description of this process of integration is profoundly presented by Denise Lin in the forward of Colette Baron-Reid's book as, "...the hero's journey into the authentic self." The authentic self lies within the union of the Higher Self with this Earthly incarnation. Those who have this connection are called "self-actualized" and, as Maslow suggested, represent a very small percentage of the human population. Self-actualization, however, cannot entirely be realized until an individual commits themselves to the service of others. The classic words of Yeshua in Matthew 5:15 come to mind here: "Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." The Language of the Higher Self Dreams have always been something that people pay attention to and that I have always seen as a sort of guide. The late psychic Edgar Cacye encouraged people to inspect their dreams. He explained that when we go to sleep it is like death and we cross over to the other side. Bashar says the same thing in that when we are sleeping we are our true selves. Therefore, when we come back in the morning our mind interprets that experience of the 'spirit.' The dream symbolism, in my opinion, is how we can communicate with our Higher Self. As Jung and Joseph Campbell points out it is with universal archetypes- the Collective Unconscious has access to all of the human information so we are 'plugged in' to the same group that's why they are universal- and it can take some time to learn or understand this symbolism. I highly recommend dream interpretation books written by Edgar Cacye's A.R.E. We are always given little tid-bits of what to expect or something that will help us with the current portion of the Hero's Journey upon which we are traveling. Conclusion The Higher-self is neither ambiguous neither is it a concept that is completely metaphor. This is a very real part of our souls that dwells on the other side of the 'veil.' That portion of us is always in contact with us as we journey throughout life. The Higher Self is always in contact with God as well because it is in the place of spirit with God. That aspect also contains much of our energy from past lives in the other gender and presents itself in our dreams as the opposite gender. The process to work with the Higher Self is that of integration. Learning not to repress aspects of ourselves. That can be very challenging work. I like to describe it as a process where I am continually finding baubles to inspect or something else to integrate. I am not sure if that process ever ends in life because as I grow I always seem to find more psychological wounds to explore and heal. A good indication that we are not working with our higher self is when we dream of disputes with or encounter a non-compliant opposite gender in our dreams. We can resolve our issues with the opposite gender in the real world by working on our relationship with the opposite gender or balancing the male/female drives that we all possess within ourselves. However, if we are working in the opposite way (dis-integration) we create a shadow. Those un-owned aspects of ourselves that we loathe can take on a life of their own and can really plague the human mind. I have not delved deeply into this topic, but it almost seems as though some people create an actual entity that can be seen in the Twilight before sleep. That might be a future blog post. Finally, let me explain why I chose "Little Piece of Heaven" as a video to best portray the union of the "Higher" and "Lower" self. It's a bit graphic and people might see it as evil. However, so often on our way to becoming self-actualized we try to kill our inner male or female component. We then exist as nothing more then pure animals. This song best captures the idea of someone who gives into their base urges, then realizes what they have done to themselves, and then 'marries' their Higher Self. Whether this is the point of the artists, I have no idea, but I think it is a very poignant way of seeing how we usually deny/repress or even "slay" our Higher Selves. Joseph Campbell said it best in an interview I recently watched when he said, "Be careful that when slaying the Dragon you do not slay the best part of yourself." |
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Brave Soul! May Your Journey On The Path Of The Seeker Bring You Joy and Peace! I'm currently posting every Saturday. With a new addition the family I have pre-scheduled most posts through December 2022. Full Moon Posts will contain up-to-date content when I can get to them. Thank you so much for your support and understanding! This is a place where you can encounter new spiritual ideas that have helped me develop as an Individual On The Path of the Seeker. Take or Leave this information as you see fit. Archives
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