Trump This and Bern That!

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

Elective Bargaining:

It is a presidential election year and the masses are emerging from their political slumber.  Every four years the nation becomes encumbered and ensnared within the duality that is the American voting process.  Like a college sports rivalry, politics divides couples, families, friends, business associates and communities.  As always, the powers that be are ratcheting up the politico machine to amuse, deceive, distract, enrage, hypnotize, intrigue and stupefy society.  The establishment plays us all like a maestro their instrument.  Every time, we take the bait, note for dissonant note.

Elusive Leadership:

We are all born leaders, yet we are not educated, empowered, encouraged, raised or supported in our leadership.  For most of us, this lifestyle is not an option.  Not because we don’t choose this path or aren’t adept in its practice.  It is mostly because we are discouraged, distracted and suppressed by the arrogant and bold sociopathic few that were born into the right family.  We are bewildered, enchanted, envious and ultimately subservient to politicians because of their charisma, celebrity and popularity.  We acquiesce to their inauthentic guidance and importance for fear or lack of our own.

Slight of View:  

Education, media, religion and parental influence prepare us for our inevitable servitude.  Numerous distractions are invented everyday by political authorities, news networks, social media, editorial commentary, advertising, sports events and entertainment outlets.  We are bombarded by a plethora of drama that triggers our contempt, outrage, upset and eventually our resignation.  While we are preoccupied by the multitude of diversions, our freedoms and rights are gradually and systematically distorted and taken away from us.  The spell is cast, the trick is set and the illusion is performed.

Bait and Switch:

Every time it begins with a new collection of president-elects who roll out of their respective parties like a cluster of clowns from a compact car in the traveling circus.  They talk the talk, show up at appearances, kiss babies and invent new rhetoric to be noticed more than the next person in line.  At first, the public isn’t interested, nor is it prepared for the measure of their eventual exaltation or fanaticism of the candidate-elects.  A sequence of events, statements, propaganda or posturing occurs that whips their voter base’s adrenalin and ire into a fever pitch.  Game on.

Feel the Fear:

Politics is a sport of fear.  It has nothing to do with leadership.  If it truly did, politicians would be inspiring the people to lead themselves.  Instead, they find new and clever ways to discourage the voting populous by preying upon their anxieties, distress and ignorance with the implication of defeat, veiled threats and dire consequences.  The worst is not in what we know about what is going on, it is in what we don’t know and don’t witness.  Everything that is repressed from the populous is used against it for the purpose of furthering a concealed agenda that most often is to the detriment of the general public.

Contest of Conquest:

One of the greatest spectacles of political theater during an election year is personified in the debate.  It is the age-old practice of attempting to prove to the constituency the validity of one’s candidacy.  It begins with the initial intention of commitment, goodwill, honesty, information and the declaration of oaths.  Yet, it usually devolves into an exchange that can be seen on any elementary playground during recess.  The aim is no longer a presentation of the candidate’s character, experience and purpose.  It becomes an opportunity to debunk, discredit and defrock the opponent.

Ways and Means:

Politics is an elite club from which the people are excluded.  Their only participation is how much money they can donate to their candidate, how much tax they pay and the casting of their vote.  There is no other requirement of the public.  It is a systemic convenience that has cost us our economy, freedom, rights, future and citizenry.  There is an implied expectation of entitlement from candidates and incumbents that the people simply hand over their personal power.  A pledge millions in this country are more than willing to give for the sake of an artificial belonging, security, happiness and peace.

Heads or Tails:

We believe that we have a choice as to who is elected.  We don’t.  Since the dawn of democracy, the people never had a choice and perhaps never will.  Our “choice” is based upon the decision of a few influential individuals whom select the candidates they believe will best further their agenda.  When these candidate-elects are chosen, they are then funded, initiated, lobbied, promoted and programmed by political officials on what to say, how to act and react and motivate their voter base to the polls.  If given the choice, most if not all of us would choose a candidate not listed on the ballot.

Pyramid Scheme:

Our world is run by a small collection of elite wealthy families perpetuating a bloodline that has existed since before history was recorded.  They thrive in the shadows of our apathy, compliance, cynicism, ignorance and fear.  Their network maintains and manipulates a system of international central banks that fund national central banks.  These national banking institutions in turn administrate commercial banks that finance corporations.  This “Corporatocracy” exploits, lobbies and utilizes governments to draft legislation and pass laws to protect their investments, profits, power and status.

Return on Investment:

Millions of dollars are spent by corporations, donors, lobbyists and financial institutions to ensure the election outcome that benefits their interests most.  Yet, billions of dollars are generated, secured and disseminated through covert legislation, corporate tax cuts, no-bid contracts, “defense” spending and subjective scientific research.  In other words, the value we believe our vote has is merely a raindrop in an ocean of financial and corporate exploitation.  As has been stated before, if our vote really made a difference, the banks and corporations would never grant us this liberty.

Seasonal Selection:

As an electorate, we often tend to engage in the political process once every four years, cast our vote and then return to the “reality” of our standard and subliminal servitude.  Our vote is merely an inauthentic expression of artificial power.  By no means do I intend to discourage anyone from fulfilling upon their civic rights.  True freedoms in this world must be claimed and exercised.  We as citizens need be present to where our attention, energy and money flow.  These are the essentials of our lives that determine the prevalence of our liberty or the degree of our captivity.

Power to the People:

We are at the bottom of the pyramid.  We are no longer identified as citizens.  The elite perceives us as consumers.  We enable our enslavement by unconsciously purchasing their products and services and denying and refuting their existence.  We the many significantly outnumber the influential few.  We the people can transform the maniacal network of centralized banks and trans-national corporations.  We can choose to become aware of where our money is going by simply exploring where it leads.  All it requires of us is our dedicated focus, inquiry, practice, purpose and willingness.

Evening the Odds:

We have an extraordinary opportunity to make a difference in our lives and in the world.  It begins everyday with our choice of who we want to be, how and why we want to live and what we want to manifest.  Our destiny does not live and die when we cast our vote.  It is declared in our intention and action to be an expression and stand for all that enlightens and inspires us.  We need to vote first for ourselves and claim our leadership then encourage others to do the same.  Only then will we truly be the consciousness, love, possibility and transformation we yearn to see in the world.

http://www.zengardner.com/trump-this-bern-that/

Freedom

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

When we are born, we enter this world, this reality innocent, pure, open, amazed and spellbound by the endless wonders that this life offers us.  We are passengers upon a ride filled with thrills, chills, highs, lows, birth, growth, age, death and everything in between.  Of course, this is before the honeymoon wears off and everything offered is gradually taken from us in very unique, cunning and seemingly elusive ways.

We are observant witnesses until we are old “enough” to participate, or better stated, to unconsciously contribute and enable a societal system that, more so than ever before, benefits the few at the cost of the many, and the many grows with every breath we take.  This structure of secrecy really doesn’t sink into our understanding, if it ever does, until well after we have consistently and mercilessly been conditioned to “accept” it as the “norm” of society.  By then, we may never see it for the injustice that it is, even if it is right before our eyes.

This happens at a very young age.  In school, we are bombarded with intensely left-brain information that creates an overload and imbalance in our minds.  For 7-8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 9 months a year, we are “taught” (programmed) with language, mathematics, history (mostly revisionist) with a light, very light these days, sprinkling of music and art.  Most of us were set on this path of “education” long before we developed our personality, comprehension, distinction, beliefs, morals, ethics, interest, listening and discernment. To me it seems quite scary to consider the reality that most of these characteristic traits we all possess were so potently influenced by an institutionalized educational system.

Most of us may have been subjected to participating in another “congregational” life event, religion.  We may have resented the fact that our parents woke us up early on a Sunday morning to clean ourselves up, dress up and sit in a pew for an hour or more to participate in a ritual of singing religious songs, reading passages from the Bible, and listening to the minister, preacher, priest, etc. drone on through a sermon about the duality of saints and sinners and how if we were good, we would go to heaven, and if we were bad, well, we wouldn’t, all the while pretending to be happy and friendly that we were there.

Eventually, when we are old “enough” to either understand or develop a “conditioned” interest, we start watching the news to become “informed” with what is going on in the world.  And yet another system of programming begins, a system of “dis”-information, or rather the “mis”-representation of information.  It is the “spin” of the story, the context in which it is broadcast that carries the strongest message and the most powerful impact upon the society it targets.  The networks make us feel better about ourselves in giving us a superficial notion and ideal of intelligence by swindling us into being informed of the current events, though the majority of the content being broadcast is of a negative and tragic nature.

Last but certainly not least, we are manipulated by something much more powerful and omnipresent, our own egos, incessant thoughts and the very perceptions, conceptions, viewpoints and lifestyles we ourselves fashion on the path toward “growing up.”  As we “grow” into these “fixed” characteristics, we gradually annihilate our youth, our truth, our openness, our possibility, our purpose, our power, our destiny and most importantly our freedom on our way to “adulthood.”

You see, when we were children, everything was possible.  We could do anything.  We could be anything.  We woke up in the morning with a burst of energy, excited to experience the newness of the day and the adventures it would bring.  We ran around barefoot in the grass and woods.  We played until dark with our friends from the neighborhood.  Every night, we fought the inevitable of surrendering to our parent’s nightly sentence of going to sleep.  We were the personification of life, as though every cell in our being, every hair on our head and every limb of our body was infused with an everlasting energy that ran at 100 miles per hour most of the day.  Now, as we have grown older, we have “conditioned” ourselves to stay awake for just as long as we need in order to “participate” in a commonly accepted “reality” just to survive and endure until the great inevitable occurs.  We have sacrificed our youthful lifeforce to emulate the focus of our teenage angst, we have become “adults.”

Though this may be a shocking revelation for most of us, it is even more sinister than this.  Since the days of our youth, through education, religion, information, society and the common “reality” we have all adopted as relevant and absolute, we have become slaves.  Though it may “seem” so, we are not enslaved by our school, our church, the news, social ebbs and flows, the marketplace, the banking institutions, governments, corporations, the oil and gas industry, the medical industry, etc.  We are imprisoned by ourselves.  More specifically, we are incarcerated by our minds.  It is these same “fixed,” incessant thoughts, perceptions, conceptions, viewpoints, beliefs and lifestyles we incorporate into our lives that form the links to the chains we burden ourselves with every day of our lives.  We become so accustomed to our enslavement, we eventually forget who we are, why we were born to this earth, what was our purpose, what was our destiny and the true meaning of our life.

“What is it?”
“…it is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That you are a slave born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch, a prison for your mind.”

Though it may appear to be excruciatingly daunting just simply to recognize and accept our mind-imposed slavery, this is the beginning of transitioning into freedom.  Once we have broken through the spell of our denial, disinterest, disbelief, disillusionment, cognitive dissonance, societal programming, familial conditioning and our personal “stories,” we begin to become present to how tethered we are to this “reality.”  We begin to see how dependent and almost addicted we are to the chaos and drama of society.  For many of us, the very thought of living without this man-made “reality” we enable has become more terrifying than most things we may encounter.  To the extent we ultimately succumb to the fear that without this machination of society, we would not survive.

“We don’t need to free our minds, we need to free ourselves from our minds.” – David Icke

Freedom isn’t in “believing” we are free, or accepting that we are because a collection of politicians, news anchors, entertainers, sports figures, military officials, friends and family members repeatedly (program) tell us we are.  Freedom isn’t found in fighting a war, outwitting a business adversary, winning an argument, earning millions of dollars, possessing things or expanding our intelligence.

Freedom is first found in recognizing we are all slaves in the social system of “reality.”  Freedom is found when we realize how often we are lying to ourselves when we “think” we are free.  Freedom is understanding that “true” freedom is possible.  Freedom is found in our willingness to break the chains of our enslavement by choosing not to continue to enable this “reality” with our personal power, our attention, our energy, our money, our acquiescence, our fear, our apathy and our disbelief.

Freedom is found in claiming, with everything we can muster, our vision, our power, our purpose, our destiny and our birthright to an extraordinary and fulfilled life, and living it with the same youthful, everlasting energy we expressed when we were children.  Freedom is found in our willingness and dedication to stand for our transformation, and in so being, standing for the ability of others to see for themselves the possibility of their own.

Perhaps the greatest freedom is acknowledging that none of us are alone in this.
We are all in this life together.
In many more ways than we may imagine, we are all one.
It will take ALL of us to create this freedom.
When one of us fails at freedom, we all fail.
When one of us becomes free, we are all free.
First, we must choose to stand for our own.

http://www.zengardner.com/freedom/

The Fear of Fear

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

It is in our thoughts, in our hearts and in our bodies.  In fact, it is in every cell of our being.  It is instinctual and in many ways, it has wound its way around the very roots of our human nature.  It may be the first thing we awaken to in the morning and the last thing we ponder before drifting off to sleep.  It has even compromised and devoured the health and well being of our breath and our lives.

It is in the air, the water, the fire and the earth.  It is projected and broadcasted on radio waves, in television signals, in municipal sirens, upon the printed page, on advertisement billboards, at our workplace, our family reunions, temples, churches, our bedrooms and even in the arms of our significant others.

It is everywhere.       

You may believe that I am writing about fear, and it would be relevant.  However, I am not referring to “fear” as the general reaction we have been conditioned to “believe” it is, or even feel.  I am choosing to see it for what it really is, and that is simply energy.

Everything is energy.  From the food we eat, the water we drink, the voice we project to eachother in conversation, when we are walking, running, driving, speaking, listening, exercising, reading, working, making love and even when we are sleeping, energy is being emitted from and to us at all times.  A constant cycle of mutual exchange as vital and present as our breath of life.  Everything that is is an expression of energy, for if it didn’t convey energy, it simply would’t exist.

So, what does energy have to do with fear?  Everything!

What we call “fear” is just a raw, unrefined force that has yet to be proactively transformed by us into a useful, beneficial and eternal energy.  As all energy is, this form of it is very powerful and often misinterpreted.  It only becomes what we term as “fear” when we choose to perceive it as distinct from what it really is, energy.  When we do identify with it as “fear,” we automatically give our power over to it, thus we succumb to the “fear of fear.”  More often than not, when we find ourselves influenced by feelings of trepidation, anxiety, panic or fright, it is not the energy itself by which we are impacted, it is merely our perception, response or reaction to this energy that brings us to this state of being.  We are not afraid of a person, experience, situation or circumstance, we are fearful by our perspective, and ultimately our way of being, that we adopt about those people, things or events in our lives.  We are triggered mentally, emotionally and instinctually into what we acknowledge as “fear” by our perception of it, not the energy itself.

In fact, it is impossible for us as human beings to inherit or embrace this “fear.”  It simply doesn’t work that way within the natural dynamics of being human.  We first have to “believe” that the “fear” exists, is threatening and is influential, then allow it to impact us.  In essence, we are not afraid of the “fear,” we are frightened by the “shadow” of a “fear” we ourselves create with our own perception (self-deception).  Fear cannot exist without being empowered by our belief.

Believe it or not, we as human beings are so powerful and have such amazing potential beyond even imagination, that “we” create our reality, when we choose to, and we also create our “fear.”  Whether we are empowered, inspired, afraid, angry, frustrated, tired, hungry, sick, excited, related or lonely, we are causing the experience of our life based upon how we choose to perceive it.  This all begins and ends with the expression of our energy.  When we embrace an experience of passion, we may feel a surge of energy within us that allows us to transcend the mundane of daily life and make a difference in the lives of others.  When we adopt an experience of loneliness, we allow our energy to be released from us as a “fear” that may overwhelm us with sadness or depression, leaving us feeling depleted and discouraged.  What is most important is realizing that it is up to us how we choose to experience this powerful force of energy often misinterpreted and misrepresented as “fear.”

As the famous monniker goes, “(F)alse (E)vidence (A)ppearing (R)eal.”

“Fear” is an illusion.  Fear is a lie that at some point, during our history of evolution, has been accepted and adopted into the human experience of life.  In many ways, we have been brainwashed and programmed into believing that “fear” is a “real” experience.  Something to be admonished, revered, respected and regarded.  Something as “real,” and greater, then life and death themselves.  It is not.  Complying to fear is like believing that the “echo” is actually the “sound.”  Fear is a shadow often cast upon us in such a way that renders us, in most cases, incapacitated, shocked, overwhelmed, anxious, disempowered, hopeless, helpless and docile.  This energy is simply a “frequency,” a discordant and chaotic “disturbance in the force,” indeed.  It is a waveform pattern of energy that passes through us on a cellular level (this is why we feel it in “waves”).  And because none of us have a “cellular consciousness,” (way of being) it is inevitable we will succumb to our inaccurate interpretations of this raw energy’s presence.  However, the important word in the last sentence is “passes.”  It can only linger within us only as long as we allow it to persist.  When we refuse to hold space for our “fear,” it dissipates into oblivion.

How do we manage our fear?

When the waves of fear rise and impact us, we have a choice.  We can “believe” that our “fear” is real and accept it as an unfortunate element of our human experience.  Or we can choose to see it for what it really is, an empty, misguided perception and an unconscious expression of our lives.  At the heart of it, “fear” can become a “cop-out,” a “free pass,” an excuse for us not to fulfill upon our destiny.  “Fear” is something we have given our power over to that we have allowed to grow greater than our visions, passions and intentions.

For a moment, ponder how this human misperception has impacted and influenced our society.

There is nothing more powerful or omnipresent in this universe than energy.  There is nothing more powerful within us as human beings than to choose to transpose this raw energy known as “fear” into an expression of love.

If we can create fear in our lives, we can certainly transform it into a key to open many doors of possibility.
For the “real” reality behind the fear we may create in our lives is the acknowledgement that we weren’t courageous, inspired or bold enough to overcome all that may rush up to challenge us in the pursuit of our truth, our faith, our creative expression and our love.

http://www.zengardner.com/fear-fear/

From Assimilation to Transformation…In a Single Breath

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

A Prison Without Walls:

I am a slave.  You are a slave.  We are all of us slaves.  We have no idea the extent of our bondage.  When we are born, we are born into a life of servitude.  As we grow and mature into adults we are conditioned to become servants in a societal system that benefits the few at the cost of the many.  It could be said that most of humanity died as slaves without ever knowing they were.

We do not possess the time, patience, energy, interest, will power or dedication to transform this engineered society in which we exist, let alone simply identify it.  We are tethered to its intricate design.  It is a lifestyle of lunacy we are force-fed relentlessly until we accept it as “reality.”  When we do, our slavery is complete.

It is not solely an incarceration imposed by a covetous, authoritarian society.  It is an environ”mental” hypnosis that lulls us into a self-imposed separation and disassociation with not just others and ourselves, yet also with reality and life itself.  Our confinement exists only in the neural pathways of our mind.  In spirit, we are all free.  We are energetic beings that are connected to everything and everyone all the time.  Yet in reality, we are sentenced to a prison we have accepted as everyday human life.

Assimilation:

As children, we are continually bombarded by sensory stimulation.  It is violence in all forms of media that desensitizes us to its impacts on others and ourselves.  It is advertisements (“hypnotize-ments”) promoting GMO-laden, high-sugar, chemical-filled foods, sodas and sweets that eventually lead to the conditions of our demise.  It is the chemical-manufactured, electromagnetic-emitting plastic devices we all possess which inevitably possess us through our infatuation with and dependence upon them.

When we become adults we are processed through the meat-market of social programming with dogmatic religion, left-brained dominant education, candy-coated, sex-infused entertainment, dualistic politics and manufactured news broadcasts that relentlessly attack our senses with perpetual fear.  Yet, we are conditioned most through peer pressure by the opinions and expectations of our friends and relatives.   In the vain of keeping up appearances we repress and imprison our vulnerabilities, the beautiful qualities we exhibit as human beings.  We sacrifice the best of ourselves in the pursuit of our social survival and acceptance.  Our assimilation is complete.

Breaking the Spell:

Everyday we are shackled to an artificial lifestyle that diverts our visions, passions, dreams and personal power away from us, far more often than we can possibly imagine.  We are not educated, mentored or empowered to establish and maintain our personal truth, energy, consciousness, power, health and relatedness with others.  Without exercising these basic fundamentals of conscious living, we wallow in the simulated sea we perceive as “reality.”  In essence, we exist within the paradigm of an elaborate and fantastic dream.  It is a dream from which most of us never awaken.  The cost of “living the dream” is never living the life we were destined to live.

Our freedom is choice in a world of indecision.  Do we decide to exist as a “human doing,” playing out a role that was imposed upon us to echo?  Or do we choose to live an extraordinary life of love, fulfillment, health, awareness and creative expression?  It is easy for us not to choose when we aren’t even aware that we have one, or that it matters.  It may seem even easier for us to surrender our choice due to the responsibility it may entail and the outcome with which we will have to live.  It is the easiest to choose “not” to choose when we witness the dire consequences of the choices others make.  When we do not make choices in our lives, we are choosing not to live.

Transformation…in a single breath:

Most people may believe that transformation is an excruciating process.  That it requires us to drag ourselves through the muck of our undesirable behaviors and qualities in the pursuit of releasing what it is that no longer benefits our lives.  This is true.  However, transformation is the most magnificent experience we may have.  It is a gateway that reunites us with our possibility.  It draws us out of our mind and body and connects us with our heart and soul.  Transformation reminds us who we truly are.

The beginning of transformation is breathing.  When we were born, our initial expression of life is taking our first breath.  When we die, our last expression of life is our final breath.  As we live, we overlook the blessing and disconnect from the life force that breathing provides.  We breathe only as much as we need for our survival.  It is interesting how we breathe with more depth and awareness when we are sleeping than when we are awake.  We seldom fully express this most vital element of our existence.

Conscious Breath:          

When we are confronted daily with drama, injustice and exposure to violence, we have a choice.  We can react with the energy of upset, anger, disappointment and judgment.  Or we can do what we need to do to live, breathe.  When we choose to breathe, we disengage from the chaos.   Our fear that provokes our reaction disappears in the expression of our conscious breath.  This may seem like a very elementary and radical strategy for living, yet it is as essential as the quality of the breath we take.  The quality of our breath is the measure of the quality of our life.  The more consciously we breathe our breath, the more consciously we live our life.

Our conscious breath is created in its awareness and expression.  Maintaining this quality of breath may seem unattainable.  It is not.  It only appears impossible because we have not fully established and developed our conscious breath.  All it requires of us is to dedicate a few moments of our time to breathe.  When we commit to conscious breathing, something extraordinary happens.  A shift occurs within us and our experience of life transforms right before our eyes.  When we express our conscious breath, it is not our environment that transforms, it is us.

Everything in our life is born from our breath.  Only with our conscious breath will we restore our senses, balance, truth and love.  Only with our conscious breath will we realize our purpose and manifest our destiny.  Only with our conscious breath will we create a pathway to our transformation.  The possibility of transformation inspires us to breathe our breath as though it is our first, or our last.  Only with our conscious breath are we truly alive.

http://www.zengardner.com/assimilation-transformationin-single-breath/

A Universal Instrument of Energy

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

The Tide and The Undertow:

Our society has strayed further away from the natural world. In many ways, we have attempted to distort and destroy nature for the sustenance of our modern day conveniences, comfort zones, innovations and pocketbooks.  We wonder why we starve for the basic necessities of clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, clean food to eat and clean environments in which to live.  It is more difficult to ensure the purity of our needs in a world that sacrifices them willingly for power, position and profit.  It is insane to believe that there is a viable justification for what we are doing, how we are enabling, and why it is deemed socially sensible to be biting the hand that feeds us.

How we breathe and live is much like the crashing and receding of the waves and the ebb and flow of the tides. There is a universal blueprint in the majesty of this often-overlooked expression of nature.  Yet, below the surface of the sea, something equally unseen and significant is happening.  There is an undercurrent that draws upon us; much like the opposing force of a magnet.  It pulls at our bodies, our minds, our hearts and even our souls.  It is the force of life we cultivate with our willingness and it is the force of death we enable with our resistance.  It is that which remains unnoticed that makes the strongest impression and passes the greatest influence.  It is only the circumstances we feel that allows us to sense beyond the diversion of reality and express our truth.

As conscious human beings we see the undertow everywhere in everything. It is in the extreme swings of the financial markets, the shifting power of the political arenas and the misguided strategy of the established medical industry.  It is in the contrived broadcasts of the media outlets, the romanticizing of spirituality, the false heroism of the sports industry and the sensationalized fantasy of the entertainment industry.  It is in the marketing of thousands of unhealthy products that lead to millions of deaths a year.  It is the declining undercurrent of our society.  It is a global vortex that exists solely for the sake of consuming.  It is the ugly face of humanity’s collective ego that devours with an appetite never to be fulfilled.

Transcending the Currents:

We live in a social structure we identify, interact with and to which we are tethered that we commonly accept as “reality.” Within this formation of existence, we are constantly influenced and conditioned by continual social undercurrents.  Some of these currents are very constructive and life giving such as love, creativity, healthy relations, community building and childbirth.  Even if we are not particularly conscious to the presence of energy currents in our daily lives, those of a higher frequency are undeniable.  They usually result in the release of natural endorphins that elevate our perceptions, vitality, mood, motivation and experience of life.

However, most of the currents in our contemporary society are very destructive and deadly. These artificial tides shower us through news broadcasts, entertainment, sporting events, religious propaganda, advertisements, misinformation and even personal and family dramas.  When we are caught in the undertow of these lower frequency currents, we are left tired, drained, depressed, hopeless and powerless.  As human beings, we often struggle to establish a healthy awareness of them.  These denser energy frequencies push and pull us to and fro, overwhelming our vision, senses, purpose and life.  They possess authority over us when we allow their energetic exploitation.  It is only when we concede our intention of consciousness we surrender our power.  When we do, we separate ourselves from the eternal spring of energy that the universe provides.

We are in the midst of an energetic conflict and its impact and impression is as constant and relentless as the ominous fate looming within and around us. Whether or not we are conscious of this secret battle does not take away from its potency and the burden of its probable outcome.  We are confronted by an energetic conundrum every year, day and breath of our lives.  We feel it when we wake up till the time we retire to our sleep.  Its presence permeates every facet of our being, most often without our awareness and understanding.  Our ability to thrive amid these social currents is dependent upon our willingness to differentiate and choose which energy we will adopt and represent based upon the nature of the expression of our lives.

In The Flow:

There are numerous sources in our world that radiate energy. Whether it is the Sun, the Earth, the winds, the rivers, the tides or even people, we are provided an endless supply.  Yet, the energy source that is most available to us is ourselves.  We are a biological system of life that generates and expresses an immeasurable amount of vitality.  Our body is constantly producing energy through breathing, digestion and hydration.  Our mind continuously fires neural activity as it sends commands to our body and relates us with our intuition.  Our hearts emanate life force through the circulation of the blood as well as the boundless electromagnetic energy that connects our heart with our soul.  Our soul is our direct connection with the source of all life in the universe.

We are eternal energy. All that exists is within us.  It is not an external entity that limits our capacity or takes our power from us.  It is our personal denial, self-righteousness, judgment and acquiescence that causes our diminished existence.  It is we who give our power away when we decline to become all who we are.  It is only we who can recover the energy we surrender to the chaotic undercurrents of our society’s turbulent, energetic tides.  It is in our nature to become multi-dimensional expressions of life in this world.  After all, we already are.  It is our living inheritance to claim our common destiny by fulfilling ourselves with the life force of all creation.  Everything that we need to thrive in our life is already within us.  We need only identify, accept and radiate our universal expression.

We are an instrument for the universe. The nature of instrument we will be is dependent upon the expression of our energetic birthright.  We have the potential to conduct the energetic currents that flow into this world.  We have the choice to be in flow with the universal energy and the collective stream of consciousness.  We have an obligation as living beings to stand strong amidst the social currents as they ebb and flow to challenge the bearings of our destiny.  We have the right to transform the fractured tides and undertows in our lives and in the world toward a convergence of energetic evolution.  Our lives are opportunities to express and share energy.  All it requires of us is to be the truth of our existence.  All it requires of us is to be what we are, a universal instrument of energy.

http://www.zengardner.com/universal-instrument-energy/

We Are All Related

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

The Perfect Illusion:
One of the greatest lies ever invented in our society is that we are separate and alone.  Though we live in a world with billions of people, we tend to accept this belief.  In doing so, we engender and even enable a reality of separatism and loneliness.  We may believe that this is what gives us our strength, our purpose and will lead to our destiny.  We allow ourselves to become devoted to this belief, even with our spouses, our children and our family.

Such is the paradigm of the “reality” in which we have been programmed and conditioned to live our lives.  It is the realism of life that has become more of an oppression and less of a liberty.  We have become dependent upon the very lifestyle many of us condemn.  Sure, we may wake up once in a while make some noise in our frustrations of how things are and how we don’t seem to have any control over them.  Yet, after the anger and upset subsides and the daily distractions kick in, we search for the artificial security blanket that our authoritarian society is more than eager to provide.

We hand over our personal power because we simply do not know what to do with it or how to be it.  We are terrified at the notion of experiencing it, let alone living it.  We entrust it to people, organizations and things that we believe (hope and pray) will protect and provide for us.  All the while running a racket of self-distraction with our denial, egotism and our self-imposed victimization.  These are the delusions of our daily experience.  The most effective illusions are the ones we accept and adopt as our way of life which inevitably becomes our reality.

Soul Schism:
The truth is we don’t trust ourselves with our personal power, let alone acknowledge its existence.  We struggle to begin to understand what our true possibility is as a human being.  We fumble around in the shadows of ourselves we enable with our apathy, self-righteousness and cognitive dissonance.  This is sustained by our conditioned social “intelligence” and our sensual desires.  We search for the vital elements of ourselves while we spend the majority of our time burying them either consciously or unconsciously to avoid being responsible for our lives.  We have made integrity and accountability our personal demons.  Our distrust, insecurity and fear have alienated us from our souls.

We become imprisoned in this world.  We allow ourselves to be drawn away from our heart and our soul and captive to our mind and our body.  This is the “Soul Schism” and it is occurring everyday in every moment with every breath we take.  Our current society does not promote or support practices and lifestyles that sustain our relations with our souls.

Many religions teach us we are unworthy in the eyes of God.  Education conditions us to conform to the intellect.  Authority figures enforce us to obey and acquiesce under fear of penalty and loss of freedom.  Entertainment hypnotizes us, when we are lost in the shadows of the life expressions of others.  These influences ultimately seduce us away from our hearts, our dreams, our creative abilities, our purpose and our destiny.  We gradually succumb to worry, insecurity, uncertainty, the pressure from our peers and the distraction of society’s structures.  This is evidenced by our lack of trust and confidence in ourselves and our lives.  We willingly sacrifice our relation with our soul and its expression for fear we won’t survive, succeed or belong.

“Where the darkness uses manipulation, the light creates inspiration.
We know we are projecting darkness when we believe we are alone.
We experience the light when we realize we are one with all.”

The Threshold of the Soul:
We have been taught to live contrary to our souls.  We have been conditioned to believe that spiritual living is equal to daydreaming or fantasizing.  Our natural expression as spiritual beings has been cleverly discredited, regulated and in many cases prohibited.  It does not fit into the standard of society’s “reality.”  This widens the chasm between our selves and our souls.

It can be terrifying to begin to unravel the enigma of ourselves from the influences and impressions of our family, friends and society.  It is equally frightening to acknowledge the unique and beautiful aspects of our selves we have willingly surrendered or distorted during our process of maturity and integration into society.

There is no greater feeling in life than being related with others.  Of course, before we can experience this union, we must first be connected with ourselves.  To some degree, we are all acquainted with ourselves.  However when it comes to knowing ourselves beyond recalling our personal history, likes and dislikes, positives and negatives and what motivates us, we may find we have distant friends and relatives we know better than ourselves.  We discover that we don’t really know who we are, what our truest expression is and what is our purpose and destiny.

Reunion:
It is extraordinary how our life thrives when we are present.  All of the answers to every question we have ever asked about ourselves are simply an expression of our realized authenticity and integrity.  When we are truly experiencing our life, we gain the necessary insights we require to expand our awareness and transform ourselves.  In doing so, we relate very powerfully with our soul and the universe.  The measurement of our relation with our soul is in the quality of the expression of our consciousness.

When we are connected with our soul, we are able to see the invisible barriers and boundaries within ourselves which keep us from becoming who we are meant to be.  We attract into our lives people whom are reflections for us to witness what it is about ourselves we are missing when we are unable or unwilling to see it within ourselves.  It is usually the characteristics or behaviors in other people that aggravate us the most.  When we are willing to acknowledge and accept this truth about ourselves, we can choose to perceive our relations as expressions of ourselves that lead to our personal freedom and power.

The greatest gift we will ever receive in our life is the wisdom that everyone whom is a part of it reveals insights to the mystery of who we are.  When we are struggling or challenged by the people or circumstances in our lives, we can choose to recognize it as an opportunity to identify the obstacles within ourselves we can transcend. What better way to expose our limitations than through the expressions of those closest to us.  What more powerful way to relate with others, ourselves and our souls than through uniting and belonging.

The truth is we can never authentically feel like we belong with others until we accept and embrace belonging with ourselves.  This may be the most difficult work to which we will ever commit.  However, when we establish the relation with our soul and become expressions of the universe, we transcend the boundaries of society and experience life as we were truly destined.  It is in our presence of being and being present to all.  We relate with all because we are in everything and everything we experience in life is in us.

We are all related.

Related

http://www.zengardner.com/related/

The Light in the Darkness

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

Into Shadow:

Millions of people around the world believe in evil as depicted in many ancient texts.  Human acceptance of what is portrayed as such is significantly why it exists in grand fashion.  It is very difficult to prove that it does without a shadow of a doubt.  It is more challenging to present or even discuss it without it becoming a debate about religion.  As contrary as they are, it is interesting how linked the light and the darkness appear to be historically and in contemporary times.  They are eternally bound to each other by belief, interpretation, exploitation and fear.  This imposed duality of common opinion has enslaved human kind since the dawn of time.

It is startling how human beings rarely if ever achieve a lasting enlightenment.  We may catch a glimpse of illumination, yet it is a fleeting epiphany that fades as the speeding luminosity of a falling star.  It is lost and forgotten amidst the relentless shower of diversions our society provides.  We allow the distractions to consume the quality and power of our lives.  We surrender to our personalized confusion with our lack of interest in creating them.  This is the ultimate darkness.  Not one that waits for its perfect moment to influence, command, embezzle and seize our energy.  It is one that we enable with our attitude, behavior, entitlement and emotional drama.  We sustain our own darkness with the conditions and restrictions we apply to our lives.  Our darkness is the measure of our human potential unattained and unexpressed.

Soul Persuasion:

We have been conditioned to live almost exclusively from our mind and body.  We exist within a social paradigm commonly adopted as “reality,” primarily steeped in left-brain activity and interaction.  Much as the fish that swims in water not seeing the limitations of its existence, we too are chained to the invisible boundaries of a manufactured lifestyle.  This is one way we align ourselves with negative energy.  We allow the darkness into our lives with our silence, selfishness, disinterest and the anesthetizing of our sensibilities.  We become vulnerable to the chaotic, lower frequencies we tend to perceive as “evil.”  These dark forces attempt to transmute our energetic signatures into a form easier to control, conquer and consume.

We witness the evidence of evil in society on a daily basis.  It is reflected in human behavior with war, destruction, genocide, inequality and injustice.  Darkness thrives in the malevolence of murder, rape, domestic violence, character assassination and the tradition of competition found primarily in politics, business and sports.  These attributes of human existence run rampant around the globe.  They bombard us with such frequency, impact and effect that we become desensitized to their horrors.  Yet, evil is not the monster under the bed or the demon in the darkness.  It is not an existential entity that preys upon our apathy, unconsciousness and fear.  It is we who sacrifice our personal power by the quality of our thoughts, behaviors, actions and emotional and energetic expression.  These traits expose us to negative energies that become hate, anger, vengeance, selfishness and cruelty.  Eventually, we render ourselves susceptible to these dark influences and they become our nature.  We become a conduit of darkness.

Bittersweet Truth Speak:

Our darkness does not appear to us typically as mythical, legendary, religious or commercial.  It is never as it is portrayed in a movie, a television program, a book or even a sacred text.  Our darkness is a customized expression of our being.  It is a reflection of who we are, unrivaled and unfounded within humanity and its communities to which we belong.  The generalizations of human darkness may seem similar, yet the specific qualities each of us conveys are as diverse as night and day.  There are over six billion people in the world with different perspectives, personalities and lifestyles and over six billion potential expressions of darkness.  It is only when we recognize our own contribution to the evil in the world that we may begin to transform its existence and impact.

We are not born to be dark or light.  We are brought into this world with all potential and possibility.  How we live and who we are is a state of being we gradually acquire with our chosen lifestyle, whether we are a shadow of darkness or an emanation of light.  As much as we would like to believe we are victims of circumstance, condition, reality or society, we are not.  This is the lie we tell ourselves when we are unwilling to find the strength and courage to take responsibility for our thoughts, choices and actions.  The more we surrender our personal power, the more we can be influenced and the more our darkness controls the course and expression of our lives.  When we acquiesce to our seductive tendency toward darkness and the false power and pleasure it provides, we yield our connection with one that is true.

The Light in the Darkness:

Darkness is so clever; it uses our own effort, energy and life force against us to further its agenda.  It exploits our ego as a channel to silently and constantly influence us toward choices and actions that go against our reason, free will, common sense and intuition.  The more we are aware of our darkness and its impression upon us, the more we are able to utilize it instead of the contrary.  After all, it is a powerful facet of our being.  It is ever present, no matter how much we attempt to avoid or deny its existence.  We can transform this expression of our being into a positive force that benefits our lives.  It is simply our perceptual fear of the raw, unknown power of our darkness that intimidates, weakens and immobilizes us.  We hand our power over to what may be, not what is.  With every fearful breath we draw, our connection with darkness strengthens and the fulfillment of our destiny wanes.

We are incapable of sustaining a capacity of being-ness for enlightenment.  Our lives are lived ever striving to become something that we can only be in spirit.  Perhaps this is the great mystery of life.  It has been said that the most powerful light is harvested from the greatest darkness.  Within this darkness there is only one thing that awaits us, our fear with which we react to the unknown.  Fear is the demon we all must face.  When we do, what once looked like a monster suddenly becomes a masterpiece of being when we see it for what it really is.  An illusion of existential authority enabled subconsciously by the power of our own fear.  It is an opportunity to draw strength from the deepest recesses of our being.  The meaning of life isn’t to become enlightened.  It is to free ourselves from the devices of our own darkness.  It is to face and transform the only darkness that truly exists, our own.

http://www.zengardner.com/light-darkness/

Guise of Divinity

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

“God is a concept, by which we measure our pain.” – John Lennon

Manufactured Divinity

We are all powerful, all potential and all possibility.  We are organic beings that produce energy rivaled only by the Sun and artificial invention.  We are descendents of the light of all creation.  Our hearts are electromagnetic energy generators that not only emit life force, yet connect us to everyone and everything that expresses life.  We are made from the same chemical compounds that are found throughout the galaxy and beyond.  We have the potential to transform any behavior pattern, thought and hereditary trait we may experience.  We have the capacity to create life and we possess the ability to take it away.

Yet, with all of the possibility we express, we have a tendency to become spellbound by our own belief.  With our reverence, we tend to hand over our personal power to a human invented supreme being presented as greater than ourselves.  Gradually we succumb to this “conditioning of the soul” and fall in line with common faith, otherwise known as religion.  We become dependent upon this invisible and imaginary force that, in some form or other, assumes the commonly accepted countenance of God.

We see this representation of divinity in so many people, in so many things and in so many ways within the numerous cultures across the world.  We not only begin to accept these rituals of belief, we take them, for lack of a better word, as Gospel.  We believe to the extent that we have trust in the doctrines and practices more so than we have confidence in ourselves or our family and friends.  The focus of our devotion toward our selected deity grows as our investment in our lives and in ourselves wanes.  We are diverted from our souls and into the arms of a social myth endorsed as “God.”

Edging God Out

The terminology and definition of “God” is a human invention to prevent us from connecting with and expressing our own spirituality.  When we explore this concept further, we find that the common interpretation humanity has adopted of God is only its perception.  At one point in history, a group of men had the idea to devise something that would allow them to be the “middle men” between God as they presented “Him” and the people.  They witnessed the blind and rapturous devotion the people expressed in their exaltation of the almighty focus of their faith.  They monopolized on it in the name of finance, politics, control, power and spiritual supremacy and segregation.

The agenda and strategy most religious organizations impose within their doctrines is becoming more apparent in our contemporary society.  Through the conditioning of the sacrament in many forms of faith, what seems to be missing is the connection that the devotee has with their chosen almighty.  It is interesting to witness the superiority of the “testimony” of those who are in a position of faith when they express it to their fellowships.  It would seem that the lessons being shared with their congregations dictate more of a principle for following belief rather than learning how to establish and maintain a union with their own spirit.

Our dependence upon a power distinct from our own has altered us to the roots of our being.  This reliance has built a barrier between our souls and us.  It has isolated us from our potential, possibility and personal power.  Our denial, unwillingness and fear have separated us from our relatedness with the natural flow of the universe.  We have enabled the publicity of God with our blind faith and hope instead of experiencing its fulfillment by establishing our own connection with our spirit and living our truth.  We subscribe to follow the ministers of belief and sacrifice our choice to lead our own way.  Where we once stood with consciousness, we now kneel at the altar of acquiescence.

The Voice and The Echo

If God is beyond our understanding, how could we ever recognize let alone understand the truth of its existence?  How could we ever hope to relate with something so superior to our consciousness?  Why are we expected to believe in one perception yet condone another?  How can we distinguish between that which is God and that which is merely a reflection proselytized by a representative of faith?  Why are we so hungry to believe in hope and faith yet eventually dismiss it to the peer pressures of our society’s “reality?”

There is a vast difference between God as we may experience it and its perceptual depiction.  There is no one in the world that has the authority, let alone the ability to accurately quantify, identify and articulate what God is, or what it is not.  Beyond all the meaning that humanity has attached to God, it is simply a word consisting of three letters.  It could be said that our own belief, energy, devotion and loyalty are the very elements that have given the concept of God its power.  It is our denial, fear and unwillingness to acknowledge, adopt and accept our potential for spirituality that has made the assumed existence of God all-powerful.

It is not God that has reaped the harvest of the critical mass of human belief.  It is those who have placed themselves between us and our connection with our souls.  It is human kind.  It could be said that God doesn’t need belief.  If God created everything, why would he need our faith or reverence?  Why would he need anything of us at all?  If the purpose of life as we learn in living it is to honor, keep and share it, why would we choose to dedicate a great deal of it looking outside of ourselves for what can only be found within?

Guide Of Divinity

We sense only a fraction of all that exists in the universe.  We experience life and the world through our own perceptual filter we have established in our lives.   We can begin to acknowledge that everything we have ever experienced of God is only that which we have learned or can relate to within ourselves.  It could be said that there is little difference between God and a human being.  We can create.  We can destroy.  We can express righteousness.  We can cast judgment.  We can bless others with our love and we can curse then with our hate (fear).

Who we are going to be and how we benefit others as well as ourselves is what makes us divine.  We are only human when we believe that is all we are.  As powerful as we believe God to be, we are as well.  When we let go of the stigmata of being human, we can accept the ultimate truth.  We are the guides of our own spirituality.  We are all of which we look to God.  We are the manifestation of God.

We are the emanation of life.

http://www.zengardner.com/guise-divinity/

Who We Are

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

The Fallacy of Physicality:

We are born into what most perceive a physical world.  We burst through the vaginal cavities of our mothers into a cold, cruel, complex and cutthroat reality.  When we are delivered, we possess everything we require to adapt, develop, excel, achieve, transform and thrive in life.  The moment we draw our first breath outside of the womb, we have attached ourselves to the material experience.  It is that expression of our will to live that determines our purpose, commitment and destiny.

The first twenty or more years of our lives we are processed through a vast labyrinth of information, rules, disciplines, social structures, evaluations and tests.  We experience few successes, many failures and parental, peer and authority persuasion.  With every day that passes, we yield more of who we were born to be and become more of a product of that which society conditions us to be.  We are so distracted by what is going on around us we are oblivious to the gradual death that occurs within.  We sacrifice our heart and soul in a needless pursuit for inauthentic belonging.

It is easy to be drawn into the fear, drama and reality of physical life.  The potential of pain, illness, punishment, disease and death is an ample antagonist to ensure our compliance.  Yet, no matter how “real,” dire or shocking it may be, the physical world is an illusion.  We have allowed ourselves to believe that all we see is all that is real.  We have turned our backs on the essence of the universe and ourselves by being seduced, stimulated, entertained and enslaved by our sensuality.

The House of Mirrors:

The greatest enigma in the existence of humanity is the mind.  There is nothing in our being-ness more active, complex, spellbinding, intriguing and bewildering.  From an early age we are confronted with millions of ideas, thoughts and judgments that bombard us and shape the course of our values, opinions and perceptions.  As our intelligence develops, our innocence, sense of wonder, intuition and creativity fades.  Decades of exposure to institutional information deprive us the development of our true wisdom.

There is a schism that matures in our minds during the process of our education, belief and social influence.  Our societal structures are engineered in a way to prevent and even prohibit us from connecting with others beyond our instinct and intellect.  These systems focus on the growth and programming of our left-brain so we eventually resign ourselves to a linear existence.  These methods gradually segregate us from our right brain and our natural desire and necessity to create and express.

As we mature into adulthood, we find it more difficult to experience life beyond the boundaries of our mind and body.  Our ability to feel and intuit with our heart and soul is distorted by the rigid guidelines of the common reality.  When we transcend this two-dimensional lifestyle, we relate emotionally and spiritually with others and we experience vital life epiphanies and insights.  These encounters are the breadcrumbs on our path of illumination, when we choose to acknowledge and apply them to our lives.

The Heart of the Heart:

Society has taught us that matters of the heart are a sign of weakness and a minor priority in life.  Emotionality has been attributed more to women than men.  Like the schism in our mind, this popular perception has caused a division between the sexes that has separated us not only from our relatives and significant others, yet also with ourselves.  The human race has become a de-compartmentalized species afraid of its own shadow.  Our fear of feeling has alienated us from our soul.

Our heart is the forgotten warrior of our being.  Amidst the constant demands of our body and the continual drone of our mind, its enduring and omnipotent presence centers and grounds us into a multi-dimensional existence.  Our instincts may deceive us and our intelligence may outwit us, yet our heart is our truest human quality.  Its very expression offers clarity, guidance, insight and enlightenment.  In the moments of our anger, upset, drama, confusion and fear, it reminds us who we are.

The center of our inner universe is our heart.  It is the eternal, electromagnetic core of our being, the gateway to our soul and the lightning rod of our intuition.  It is of course the most vital organ that pumps and distributes blood throughout the body.  Yet it is also what provides our body and energy field with essential life force.  It balances, sustains and expands our being.  The quality of our experience of life is dependent upon how conscious of, present to and expressive we are with this energy.

The Song of the Soul:

When we choose to transcend the trappings of the mortal world, there is a place within us all that reflects a brilliance, beauty and majesty greater than any beheld on earth.  It cannot be seen, heard, touched, tasted and barely can be felt.  It is only experienced beyond our sensory expression.  It is a feeling, yet much more.  It is in the moments when all of our senses work in concert with each other we are able to capture a mere glimpse of the absolute splendor of our soul.

Every time we close our eyes, ears and mouths we become present to our purest potential.  Our truth can only be found beyond the intimidating silence within us all.  We are related with our bodies, minds and hearts, though we are so much more than we could possibly imagine.  We may never experience the infinite heights and profound depths of our spirit until we transcend the physical world.  The influence and impact of our body’s desires, our mind’s reason and our heart’s empathy are our greatest distractions.  As inevitable and inescapable as they may seem, they are not insurmountable.

Who we are is a conduit of energy that channels the essential elements of free will, creativity, life force and love.  We are an expression of focused being with the purpose of sharing our essence with the world.  Who we are is the manifestation of everything that has ever been, is and will ever be.  We are only as powerful as we choose to be.  Who we are is the missing piece to a magnificent mystery only our true destiny may fulfill.  We are everything we have ever sought to find outside of ourselves.  Who we are is the measure of our passion to live life, affirmed by our birth and freed in our transcendence.  We are the expression of the source of all creation.

Who we are is the vision of pure being come true.

http://www.zengardner.com/who-we-are/

Fool’s Gold

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

Into the Mystic:

Before the era of mainstream spirituality and experiential ontology, religion ruled the kingdom of belief.  Billions of congregational followers flocked to their chosen church, temple, synagogue, mosque, shrine or sacred monument to seek answers only their Priest, Minister, Rabbi, Imam or Guru could provide.  Then, the spiritual revolution occurred and suddenly many seekers woke up to the realization they alone were responsible for their salvation.

Suddenly, the western world was awash with books, lectures, seminars, weekend retreats, weekly classes and You Tube videos selling shamanism as an applicable profession in the “real” world.  For hundreds or thousands of dollars one could become a shaman and almost instantly open a practice and facilitate ceremonies to heal and teach others to become one as well.  Eventually, common spiritualists came out in droves to answer this inauthentic, materialistic calling of the “new age.”

The shaman movement attracted curious, newly awakened, spirit-starved romantics seeking instant enlightenment through the repackaging of the oldest practices in the world.  Enter the opportunist that would reinvent the role of the intercessor to guide the re-born masses to Shambhala.  Now, more than anytime in the history of humanity, we see such a buzz and hullabaloo around the spiritual title “shaman,” and the broad range of modalities in which they may perform.

All That Glitters is not Gold:

In the midst of the excitement and fervor, these ancient ways were “modernized” into a form easier to understand, attain and practice.  The very essence of these sacred traditions and the experience required to properly practice them were sacrificed upon the altar of spiritual egotism and personal profit.  The rituals that had taken decades of time or longer to traditionally learn and perform would take only a matter of months, weeks or even days to the contemporary shaman.

The more this spiritual wildfire spread, the more the traditions were altered and/or re-invented to gratify a popular want in modern society.  Millions of people have been introduced to ways aged in the hundreds and thousands of years.  Yet, their teachers are not all wise and learned elders whose bloodlines had carried the cultural customs for generations.  The majority of the intercessors are merely actors most often playing a role that is far beyond their comprehension, ability, humility and commitment.

Now, it has become a trend to be a shaman.  Many mystify the masses with charisma, confidence, a little bit of knowledge and presentation ceremonies that may even harm the patients or participants more than they heal.  They have shifted the focus of the practice more upon themselves than on the spirits sourcing the medicine or the people requesting healing.  In many ways, the contemporary shaman has stigmatized and discredited the medicine way and caused challenges for the traditional ceremonial healers and their tribes.  The spiritualization and glamorization of these ancient, sacred paths have altered them forever.

The Heart of the Tribe:

There is a vital distinction between one who labels oneself a shaman and one who is a traditional ceremonial healer.   The ceremonial healer most often has grown up and lives in or around the community the medicine tradition has been kept.  The shaman most often has/does not.  The healer is willing to conduct a ceremony for very little financial return.  The contemporary shaman most often may not.  Most people whom practice ceremonial medicine do not call themselves shaman and some do not even know what that is.

In indigenous communities, those whom have understood plants, roots and our relation to the natural world have always held a vital role in the health and well being of their tribe.  Even to this day, when conventional doctors and the medical industry cannot treat the direst of situations, many traditional ceremonial healers are consulted and willing to help.  More often than not, they are severely under-compensated in comparison to modern-day physicians.  Yet, the commitment they made upon first entering their lifetime service far outweighs any concerns of comfort, convenience or status.

For many traditional ceremonial healers their experience began from the time they were adolescents, some from the time of childhood and some even from the time they were born.  It was a way of life for them for decades before the elders of their tribe acknowledged them as a leader on the medicine path.  To this day, it is a custom and a lifestyle that helps to sustain the strength, wisdom, history and ritual of their culture.  It is a tradition that preceded them long before they were born and will succeed them long after they have passed.

Few are called, Even Fewer are Chosen:

With the steady stream of spiritual practices and their accessibility over the last century, a decisive and detrimental shift has occurred.  There has been a gradual disassociation between the roots of these ancient ways and how they are conveyed and exist in the modern world.  To a great degree, the commercialization and popularization of these traditions has diminished their power and altered the expression of their energy.  The contemporary spin of these ancient practices has also provided inaccurate depictions and unrealistic perceptions to the unaware and unsuspecting novice.

The traditional medicine way is not something one may choose to become; it is something that chooses the ceremonial healer.  When this sacred exchange is established between the person who vows to help others and the spirits who bring the medicine, it is as natural as the progression of life.  They exhibit an awareness, intent and humility rarely beheld or experienced in our modern society.  Their commitment and dedication is beyond comfort, convenience, reason, sense and imagination.

As with many ceremonial practices, it is not about service to the self for financial, social or personal, spiritual benefit.  It is not about the number of patients/followers or how many referrals one may gather.  Rarely, if ever, does an authentic traditional healer consider ceremonial medicine an occupation or primary source of income.  It is about service to all without attachment.  It is the understanding and practice that the health and well being of a person in need far exceeds maintaining an image of importance or a lucrative practice.

The path of the traditional healer is one of the most difficult ones to walk.  There are very few, if any, reference points and it requires an extraordinary level of consciousness, compassion, purpose and dedication.  An authentic ceremonial lifestyle requires everything of the traditional healer.  There are no shortcuts and no concessions.  The ceremonial path may be one of the most amazing lifestyles we as human beings may experience.

If the shaman represents the branch of the ceremonial tree, the traditional healer is its root.

http://www.zengardner.com/fools-gold/