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Over the past several weeks, I’ve been discussing the 14 primary themes in our book, Rituals for Transformation. It’s a 108-day process with a short lesson each day, designed to help people release baggage, pain, and stories, and welcome a life of greater freedom, joy, peace, and connection. Today we’ll look at the last four of these “avenues for awakening.”
Courage
Courage may seem like one of those virtues you read about in fairy tales that seems to have little to do with being happy or successful in today’s world. In actuality, the presence or absence of courage can have a massive impact on our quality of life. It takes courage to choose a path that differs from what others expect of us. It takes courage to make hard communications. It takes courage to stand up for the truth. It takes courage to challenge our own thoughts. It takes courage to willingly be uncomfortable. It takes courage to enter the unknown.
And it takes choosing our own path, making hard communications, standing up for the truth, challenging our own thoughts, willingly being uncomfortable, and entering the unknown to have a life of true freedom and unrestrained potential.
The lessons in this theme deal with working through fear, forgiving ourselves for not always being strong, trusting in the Universe, tapping into our power, and accessing an experience of safety that transcends the impermanence of this human life.
Vision and Perspective
Vision and perspective are two facets of inner seeing that give us great power. When we speak of vision in the book, we mean the ability to see the truth (beyond all stories and interpretations) and the ability to envision as part of our creative power. And when we speak of perspective we mean the ability to choose where we place our focus and how we interpret what happens. Many of the happiest people we’ve met are great at continually seeing through the drama and holding an inner image of a good life. As we see it, optimists are just people who are in the habit of choosing positive interpretations (and anyone can learn to do this).
The lessons in this category are intended to help readers access their vision and actively choose their perspective. There are a number of invitations to “try out” certain perspectives, applying them as often as possible to daily life to experience what happens – such as “Every hardship is an opportunity,” and “I choose to focus on the blessings in my life,” and “Who would I be if I had no resistance?” and “My flexibility allows me to respond with grace to what life brings.” We also practice seeing reality beyond the mind and remaining conscious of the vision we’re holding of ourselves and the world.
Receiving
The creative power I mentioned above is something that’s received a lot of attention in books and videos over the past several decades – such as those on the Law of Attraction (e.g., The Secret) and Conversations with God. The recognition and conscious exercise of this power enables us to play, to turn our vision into reality, and to create something different if we don’t like the current story.
However, we felt there’s been too little emphasis on the other half of the equation: receiving. The ancient text called the I Ching or Book of Changes is an exploration of the fundamental forces and dynamics of nature – and how they also pertain to all aspects of humans’ lives. The 64 chapters of the book, with names like Peace, Stagnation, Conflict, Temptation, Adaptation, Danger, Attraction, and Retreat, are presented in a deliberate order. The book starts with The Creative or Creative Power – it’s the expression of pure yang. And chapter two is called The Receptive or Receiving, the expression of pure yin. Each needs the other. The remaining 62 qualities all follow from these two.
What good is it to set a creation into motion if we can’t recognize and receive it when it manifests? It seems silly to think that someone would do this, yet it happens all the time. It’s so common to focus excessively on what’s wrong that we frequently fail to notice that what we’ve asked for has come to us. Receiving is more vital than one might think. If we fail to receive, it’s not merely that we’re walking away from the vending machine before the candy drops down; what’s more detrimental is that we don’t get to see that our creative power works.
You might think as you’re reading this, “If I asked for money and money came to me, you can bet I would receive it!” But receiving goes beyond putting it in your pocket. Another interpretation of this dynamic in the I Ching is Yielding or Responding. It’s like you’re both the lead and the follower in a partner dance. When you utilize your creative power, you’re the lead. Being the follower entails responding, yielding, changing even, based on what transpires next. It means not just that you accept your gift, but that you become the person who is the natural and grateful recipient of that gift – and any feeling of lack associated with the original request ceases.
Expansion and Contraction
Our final theme, and really the whole gist of the book, is to encourage expansion of consciousness. For most people, our everyday consciousness is occupied almost entirely by our thoughts and emotions, often about the past and future. Our sense of who we are is a concept constructed from the history of what has happened to us, the roles we’ve adopted, and our redundant thoughts about all of this. As such, we’re immersed in something other than the truth and depth of reality, which is always happening right now.
When we allow some space into the picture (as through meditation and spiritual practice) so that our ego doesn’t dominate the whole of our awareness, we begin to recognize that consciousness is bigger than our thoughts and feelings. It contains them and it allows us to witness them. It’s always present, it’s always now, it’s always still, it’s beyond conflict, and it’s eternal. And it’s more who we really are than the short-lived character we tend to get wrapped up in playing.
Expansion of consciousness also occurs spontaneously at times, when we witness great beauty, or tremendous kindness, hear an inspiring story, or through another form of grace. Usually we return to our contracted state – often the moment we reach for our phone – but these peeks into expanded consciousness can change us in a lasting way. We never forget what we’ve experienced, and that glimpse of awakening yearns to awaken us even more.
Along the way, we’ll also have times of intense contraction – especially when a period of expansion takes us out of the ego’s comfort zone. Sometimes it occurs right after a spiritual experience or a profound healing. Then suddenly we’re fabulously unenlightened. We’re starting fights, we’re depressed, we’re cranky, we’re petty. “Why is this happening?!” we may think, “I thought I had come so far!”
The lessons in this section address how to recognize a contracted state, stop fighting it, and move through it gracefully. Primarily, though, they speak to how we can expand. Some of these lessons are: When I expand my consciousness the world is freed; I can exchange my burdens for grace; I awaken to my true identity; and Everything I see is the play of Divine Love. Wouldn't it be lovely to embody these sentiments?
I hope I’ve conveyed just how much intention and love we put into this book. We want nothing more than for people to read it, practice it, and experience greater freedom, joy, and connection. Please check it out and share your experience with us.
Love,
Peter
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The crown chakra, called Sahasrara, is situated at the very top of the head, which is an energetic center or portal recognized by cultures worldwide. It’s part of why Jews and Muslims wear head coverings. If the soles of the feet are our closest connection with the earthly realm and the solid ground beneath us, the top of the head, as the opposite pole, is closest to the ethereal realm, the heavens, or the unseen. Thus, it’s widely regarded as a link to our spiritual nature.
While each of the previous chakras had some degree of association with the body, the senses, and the world of duality, this is not the case with the seventh chakra. Traditionally, it signifies a state of total unification with God or consciousness itself.
This chakra is depicted as a lotus with a thousand petals (really, “thousand” is meant to signify some unfathomable number) - an opening of consciousness on an unfathomable scale. Interestingly, there is an acupuncture point at the same location and its name is Bai Hui - “hundred meetings” (again, “hundred” is used to connote some large number). Bai hui is considered to be a place where many different energy channels come together, and it’s a highly significant point in the practices of Qi Gong and Tai Chi.
Many sources have little to say about the seventh chakra, sometimes not even considering it a chakra, but more of a final destination that can only be experienced. Aghori Vimalananda described it as such: “When Kundalini moves from the Ajna [sixth chakra] into the Sahasrara [seventh chakra] the final shreds of identity are lost and the sadhaka [spiritual seeker] merges completely with the Universal Soul. All differentiation is lost, and the result is Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the samadhi (state of profound one-pointed consciousness) in which nothing is perceived except the Universal Soul. All determination and indecision drop away, all fluctuations of the mind disappear. You are finished! Gone to the land of no return!"
Caroline Myss, approaching it more as a developmental challenge, writes that the seventh chakra represents “our capacity to allow our spirituality to become an integral part of our physical lives and guide us.” Much in line with the Daoist conception of Bai Hui, she describes it as an “entry point” for life force to pour into us, and says it “contains the energy that generates devotion, inspirational and prophetic thoughts, transcendent ideas, and mystical connections.”
Myss also states that this chakra “motivates us to seek an intimate connection with the Divine in everything we do,” and she asserts that “seeking a personal spiritual connection shakes us to our core.… In seeking union with the Divine, we are asking to have all physical, psychological, and emotional ‘illusions’ removed from our lives.” Myss emphasizes that, in contrast to the way we typically approach organized religion, which is often motivated by a (first chakra) drive to adhere to the “group mind” or belong to a tribe, the desire for an intimate connection with the spiritual realm invites us to relinquish the concern for acceptance by our tribe.
Myss considers spiritual “crises” to be a challenge of the seventh chakra, and says they present with three symptoms: First, there’s “an awareness of an absence of meaning and purpose that cannot be remedied merely by shuffling the external components of one’s life.” She is clear to point out that simply being unable to find meaning and purpose, but still expecting life to deliver it, isn’t quite the same thing. She says it’s accompanied by a feeling that “something is trying to wake up inside them.”
Second, there are strange new fears. Not typical human fears, but fears that make a person feel they’re losing touch with their identity - that they don’t know who they are or what they want. And third, there is a “need to experience devotion to something greater than oneself.” Myss writes that this is a need rarely mentioned in psychological texts, but that we all need to be connected to “a source of power that transcends human limitation and turmoil … a source of miracles and hope.” Myss says that while these three symptoms could arise from a psychological dilemma, when the root is spiritual there’s no desire to blame other people for the crisis, because there’s a recognition that the cause is within us. She recommends a spiritual guide, rather than a psychological counselor for help in navigating this passage.
In light of the differences between the words of Vimalananda and Dr. Myss, I feel it’s important to state once again that there are two main orientations to the chakras. The historical yogic or Tantrik orientation is that they are stations of spiritual awakening, perhaps traversed one by one through the arousal of a powerful force known as Kundalini, generally through diligent practice, and that mastering each one represents a tremendous accomplishment. (I should also reiterate that there are many different perspectives on the chakras even within the Indian scriptures.) Thus, from this standpoint, arriving at the crown chakra might mean the end of one’s human existence, at least in any usual form.
The modern Western orientation is that the chakras are subtle, functional energetic centers that color our mental, physical, and spiritual life. They represent stages of development, with each chakra being associated with a set of challenges, and each capable of producing signs and symptoms of imbalance.
Even though the Western version is more accessible to me, I must admit I don’t feel the same kind of reverence for it that I have for the historical tradition. Our modern interpretation is one of too many cases of Westerners discovering and appropriating something fascinating from another culture, running it through our filters, cross-referencing it with other philosophies, and reinventing it. Some of our extrapolations are still theoretical and haven’t been tested over time.
There are pros and cons to purism. Sometimes dedicated instruction in a tried-and-true methodology is safer and more effective than trying it on in a casual, self-directed way. And learning a synthesis of a variety of philosophies might result in our missing out on benefits that could only be realized through a deeper, more formalized immersion in any one of these philosophies. But purism can also get us stuck in laborious or ineffective practices that have only endured because of blind adherence to tradition. In any case, there are very few Westerners who are willing or able to undertake an exploration of the chakras in the way that they were historically approached (and even fewer teachers capable of guiding such an exploration). So, in my opinion, the most effective role I can play is to meet my readers where they are and offer them something they can assimilate, with the hope that if it resonates with them, they’ll earnestly pursue a deeper study and personal inquiry.
Here I’ve partially copied a table from Anodea Judith’s book, Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self. These interpretations are not exactly traditional, but I think you’ll find them thought-provoking.
**Click to enlarge**
I realize I digressed quite a bit in this article, but I wanted to return to the challenges I presented at the outset of these articles - balancing the traditional and the modern, and weighing the value of precise accuracy against that of better comprehension. Only toward the end of writing these eight articles did I become aware of some of my own biases, and I want to mention them here for two reasons. First, I’d like to let them go. Second, perhaps this will help some readers notice and relinquish their own biases.
Here goes: I tend to put more stock in Eastern sources of spirituality; I tend to feel Westerners are looking for shortcuts and are rarely willing to commit to a lifelong spiritual practice; I tend to feel that historical spiritual teachers were sages and that modern ones are often charlatans; and I tend to feel that old practices are more legitimate than new ones because someone just “made the new practice up” (even though that’s exactly what someone did with the old practices). With these subconsious biases, I felt a lot of conflict in writing these articles - partly because I’m a Westerner and I’m contributing to the co-opting of this philosophy! But the fact is, I could be wrong about all of these notions, and indeed, my own life experience doesn’t support them. I have known Westerners who are enlightened, who are fiercely committed to doing their work and cutting through their illusions, who are absolutely authentic in how they present themselves, and who are probably more effective at facilitating positive change among their own people than an outside might be.
If you'd like to try an exercise to build awareness of this energy center, try this stance from Qi Gong and Tai Chi. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and a slight bend in your knees. Make sure the insides of your thighs are slightly engaged as you spread your knees a bit so that they are in line with your feet. Bring your hands out in front of you as if you were resting them on a big Buddha belly. The palms face the abdomen and are a few inches apart. There is space under each armpit (enough for a tennis ball to fit there) and the elbows are lifted slightly so that the arms form a circle. Now for the magic. Imagine that there is a string attached to the very top of your head - directly in line with the tips of your ears - and that it's pulling you upward. Imagine that you're suspended by this string. It makes it effortless to stand in this way. Next, imagine there is another string attached to the tip of your tailbone - or a place at the absolute base of the torso, in line with the point on the top of your head. Imagine that this string pulls downward, coaxing you to deepen your squat (still keeping the knees in line with the feet, not letting them go past the line of your toes). The lower string pulls down and the upper string pulls up. You spine gets longer and longer. You are suspended between these two forces. Breathe deeply, engage your body while remaining peaceful. And stand here for a minute, or five (or twenty!).
I hope you’ve benefited from this series and I wish you the best in opening to greater self-awareness, peace, and freedom.
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
[post_title] => The Crown that Obliterates Social Status
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In early scientific experiments, scientists would give a drug to a group of test subjects and then report, for instance, that “70% of the participants improved due to this drug.” But some smarty pointed out that some of those people might have gotten better without treatment. Thus, the “control group” was born.
Half of the participants (the “controls”) would get nothing (or some well established intervention the scientists endeavored to compare their new treatment with). Then they could report, “70% improved on our drug and only 20% improved in the control group.” But someone pointed out that perhaps a participant’s expectation that they were getting a new drug (or that they were getting nothing) would influence the outcome.
Thus, the “blind study” was born. Those in the control group would be given a sham treatment that would appear to be real, and participants wouldn’t know which group they were in. This revealed just how significant the “placebo effect” is (a positive health effect due to one’s belief in the [non-existent] treatment). Occasionally people even have negative reactions to sham treatments, which is called a “nocebo effect” – such as a headache or dizziness from a sugar pill – presumably because they believe they’re taking a drug. But someone pointed out that if the scientists administering the drugs and the fake drugs knew which pill they were giving to which group, they might somehow convey belief or disbelief to the recipient, potentially affecting the outcome.
Thus, the “double blind” study was born. Rather than marking the pill bottles as “Miracle Drug” and “Sugar Pills,” perhaps they’d be labeled as “Drug A” and “Drug B,” and neither the scientists nor the participants would know who was getting which until the end of the study. It was also discovered that the treatment group and control group needed to be composed of similar kinds and ages of people, and they needed to be assigned randomly to one or the other.
This progression brought us to the current “gold standard” in biomedical research – the double-blinded randomized controlled trial. (The “gold standard” claim has been hotly disputed lately, but that’s another story). It also raised some big questions about the body-mind connection. Scientists, not usually known for their faith in unseen, immeasurable mechanisms, had to concede that the placebo effect is real. People are able to affect their health – often instantly – through their thoughts and beliefs. Furthermore, we have evidence that people’s feelings about each other (e.g, “You’re lucky you’re in the treatment group,” or “You’re really sick,” or “This isn’t going to do anything”) – despite their best efforts to reveal nothing and remain neutral – also have an impact on others’ health.
While these research concepts were explored at great length in the research portion of my education, they were absent from my clinical training. That is, we didn’t talk about how to apply such ideas in the context of the treatment room. But some years into my practice, I began to notice that my thoughts and energy affected my patients. If I bounded into the room full of energy with a smile and full eye contact, the patient would respond differently than if I walked in slowly, scanning their chart and looking pensive. But that’s just a momentary response, isn’t it? Well, it’s hard to say, but I believe not. To leave no room for any discrepencies that might arise out of negligence or inadequate information, one can be recommended to check out Patient Wise for more info, which basically handles much of the marketing & administration of the research, so that research scholars are able to focus more on their progress.
It’s impossible to measure the depth and duration of impact of any given stimulus on a person. Let’s say you watched a movie with a graphic torture scene (aside: I don’t recommend this). The impact of your reaction to that violence might have subtle repercussions on the rest of your life. Luckily, the same could be true of a beautiful or deeply inspiring story. (However, given your probable aversion and resistance to the former, I’d say it’s [unfortunately] likely to cut a deeper groove in your psyche. But that, too, is another story.)
When comparing something as palpable as a Patch Adams persona versus that of a dour clinician who barely regards the patient as a living person, we could easily do an "exit poll" to measure the difference in the patient’s experience. But what about the impact on patients of our thoughts about them – as occurs in single-blinded studies where scientists can’t help thinking, “This might save your life” or, “We’re just wasting what little time you have left”? If scientists are able to skew the results of a study based on their thinking, how are we affecting each other and the world based on our outlook?
I decided to control my thinking to the best of my ability: to avoid buying into my patients’ fears and negative self-images, and to see them as the healthy, happy, whole beings I know they can be. I can’t honestly tell you that no one has ever gotten worse or died since then, but I firmly believe it has made a difference. Sometimes we start with a conversation about how bad everything is for them, and I find myself seeing them with pity and despair before remembering my role. Then I attempt to look through the labels of sick and broken. I focus on their light instead. I see their strength and vitality. I see their gifts. And I watch them change before my eyes.
Now we’ve finally come to the real topic of this newsletter, which is how we save our world. I’ve been encountering lots of articles and conversations about how bad things are today with climate change, water shortages, wildfires, fake news, political corruption, fracking, mass shootings, poverty, high fructose corn syrup, and so on. So, there must be a lot of people out there who see the world as a very sick patient. I know I do sometimes. And if we (the most powerful, most sentient beings) believe this– if we believe that the world is in a dire state - how is the world affected?
It’s not an answerable question, but I’d guess the net effect is negative. Sure, there’s a bit of positive impact when we feel momentarily spurred to act. But the overall effect of viewing the world as “going to hell” can’t be good for our consciousness or the planet itself.
So, this newsletter is a request – an experiment, actually. I ask that we all commit for one week to holding in mind an image of the world as healthy, balanced, light, loving, peaceful, and beautiful. Ask all your friends to do it with you, too. When you catch yourself focusing on the bad, shift your perspective. The worst case scenario is that you miss out on a week’s worth of pessimistic thoughts. Of course, you can continue to take positive action toward helping the world, but see if you can do it from a mindset of “Yes, my beloved world! I believe in you!” rather than, “Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Meanwhile, and as you do this experiment, look for signs that we’re making a difference.
Be well,
Peter
P.S. If all is going well after one week, commit to a month. If all is going well after a month, commit to a year. And if all is going well after a year, commit to the rest of your life.
P.P.S. Thanks.
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Over the past several weeks, I’ve been discussing the 14 primary themes in our book, Rituals for Transformation. It’s a 108-day process with a short lesson each day, designed to help people release baggage, pain, and stories, and welcome a life of greater freedom, joy, peace, and connection. Today we’ll look at the last four of these “avenues for awakening.”
Courage
Courage may seem like one of those virtues you read about in fairy tales that seems to have little to do with being happy or successful in today’s world. In actuality, the presence or absence of courage can have a massive impact on our quality of life. It takes courage to choose a path that differs from what others expect of us. It takes courage to make hard communications. It takes courage to stand up for the truth. It takes courage to challenge our own thoughts. It takes courage to willingly be uncomfortable. It takes courage to enter the unknown.
And it takes choosing our own path, making hard communications, standing up for the truth, challenging our own thoughts, willingly being uncomfortable, and entering the unknown to have a life of true freedom and unrestrained potential.
The lessons in this theme deal with working through fear, forgiving ourselves for not always being strong, trusting in the Universe, tapping into our power, and accessing an experience of safety that transcends the impermanence of this human life.
Vision and Perspective
Vision and perspective are two facets of inner seeing that give us great power. When we speak of vision in the book, we mean the ability to see the truth (beyond all stories and interpretations) and the ability to envision as part of our creative power. And when we speak of perspective we mean the ability to choose where we place our focus and how we interpret what happens. Many of the happiest people we’ve met are great at continually seeing through the drama and holding an inner image of a good life. As we see it, optimists are just people who are in the habit of choosing positive interpretations (and anyone can learn to do this).
The lessons in this category are intended to help readers access their vision and actively choose their perspective. There are a number of invitations to “try out” certain perspectives, applying them as often as possible to daily life to experience what happens – such as “Every hardship is an opportunity,” and “I choose to focus on the blessings in my life,” and “Who would I be if I had no resistance?” and “My flexibility allows me to respond with grace to what life brings.” We also practice seeing reality beyond the mind and remaining conscious of the vision we’re holding of ourselves and the world.
Receiving
The creative power I mentioned above is something that’s received a lot of attention in books and videos over the past several decades – such as those on the Law of Attraction (e.g., The Secret) and Conversations with God. The recognition and conscious exercise of this power enables us to play, to turn our vision into reality, and to create something different if we don’t like the current story.
However, we felt there’s been too little emphasis on the other half of the equation: receiving. The ancient text called the I Ching or Book of Changes is an exploration of the fundamental forces and dynamics of nature – and how they also pertain to all aspects of humans’ lives. The 64 chapters of the book, with names like Peace, Stagnation, Conflict, Temptation, Adaptation, Danger, Attraction, and Retreat, are presented in a deliberate order. The book starts with The Creative or Creative Power – it’s the expression of pure yang. And chapter two is called The Receptive or Receiving, the expression of pure yin. Each needs the other. The remaining 62 qualities all follow from these two.
What good is it to set a creation into motion if we can’t recognize and receive it when it manifests? It seems silly to think that someone would do this, yet it happens all the time. It’s so common to focus excessively on what’s wrong that we frequently fail to notice that what we’ve asked for has come to us. Receiving is more vital than one might think. If we fail to receive, it’s not merely that we’re walking away from the vending machine before the candy drops down; what’s more detrimental is that we don’t get to see that our creative power works.
You might think as you’re reading this, “If I asked for money and money came to me, you can bet I would receive it!” But receiving goes beyond putting it in your pocket. Another interpretation of this dynamic in the I Ching is Yielding or Responding. It’s like you’re both the lead and the follower in a partner dance. When you utilize your creative power, you’re the lead. Being the follower entails responding, yielding, changing even, based on what transpires next. It means not just that you accept your gift, but that you become the person who is the natural and grateful recipient of that gift – and any feeling of lack associated with the original request ceases.
Expansion and Contraction
Our final theme, and really the whole gist of the book, is to encourage expansion of consciousness. For most people, our everyday consciousness is occupied almost entirely by our thoughts and emotions, often about the past and future. Our sense of who we are is a concept constructed from the history of what has happened to us, the roles we’ve adopted, and our redundant thoughts about all of this. As such, we’re immersed in something other than the truth and depth of reality, which is always happening right now.
When we allow some space into the picture (as through meditation and spiritual practice) so that our ego doesn’t dominate the whole of our awareness, we begin to recognize that consciousness is bigger than our thoughts and feelings. It contains them and it allows us to witness them. It’s always present, it’s always now, it’s always still, it’s beyond conflict, and it’s eternal. And it’s more who we really are than the short-lived character we tend to get wrapped up in playing.
Expansion of consciousness also occurs spontaneously at times, when we witness great beauty, or tremendous kindness, hear an inspiring story, or through another form of grace. Usually we return to our contracted state – often the moment we reach for our phone – but these peeks into expanded consciousness can change us in a lasting way. We never forget what we’ve experienced, and that glimpse of awakening yearns to awaken us even more.
Along the way, we’ll also have times of intense contraction – especially when a period of expansion takes us out of the ego’s comfort zone. Sometimes it occurs right after a spiritual experience or a profound healing. Then suddenly we’re fabulously unenlightened. We’re starting fights, we’re depressed, we’re cranky, we’re petty. “Why is this happening?!” we may think, “I thought I had come so far!”
The lessons in this section address how to recognize a contracted state, stop fighting it, and move through it gracefully. Primarily, though, they speak to how we can expand. Some of these lessons are: When I expand my consciousness the world is freed; I can exchange my burdens for grace; I awaken to my true identity; and Everything I see is the play of Divine Love. Wouldn't it be lovely to embody these sentiments?
I hope I’ve conveyed just how much intention and love we put into this book. We want nothing more than for people to read it, practice it, and experience greater freedom, joy, and connection. Please check it out and share your experience with us.
Love,
Peter
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