Losing Confidence in the System?

"Money is simply an agreement you have with your culture that scraps of paper, bits of metal, and pieces of plastic can be exchanged for something you want. When people lose confidence in this agreement, money becomes what it really is, something that has no intrinsic value. Because money has no essence, Spirit cannot value money solely for its own sake. You can understand nothing about money until you understand this."

The above quote from the teachings of Spotted Eagle is difficult to wrap your brain around, I know. I get a headache when I think about it. The relief does not exist within the aspirin bottle however but is centered around that word "essence." That is a good starting point of inquiry on a path to curing your headache.

Say good bye to security

"Giving up security usually means giving up your drama about what you have been through in your life. This is because we often envision security as whatever will keep us from going through unpleasant events we have experienced in the past, especially in matters of money and love No journey into consciousness is complete until we leave security behind, and learn to be joyful without it." - Grancfather White Elk

The Biological Contract

The following perspective comes to you as a small part of a much larger body of spiritual work that has been channeled to us by Spotted Eagle, through Jennie Marlow. It is offered for your consideration and should your couriosity be challenged much more is available from her website, www.jenniemarlow.com.

Some scientists believe that the evolution of man occurred some 200,000 years ago in what was most likely an environmental crisis. On a basic level it was our struggle to survive that established, supported, and grew our fears. When we surprised that saber tooth tiger while we were out digging roots, gathering nuts, and picking berries for lunch we either responded to our fear, turned and ran for our lives or we BECAME lunch. In which case, the less fearful found themselves removed from the gene pool, leaving only those who were fearful.
Our survival as a species shows that we at least have moved past the tiger in the underbrush scenario of the early times but we did so by coming together in groups or tribes, bringing the resources of the tribe to bear on the survival of its members. Shared kills from hunting, shared strength to protect and defend the tribe support when tribe members became ill or they aged. Many scientists believe that this is what makes homo-sapiens different from our close relatives; not our brain size, or what was thought to be our singular ability to use tools. Nor is it the ability to walk upright thus freeing our hands for creative endeavors but instead it is this capacity for long term sharing that defines us as homo-sapiens. Anthropologists refer to this as “reciprocal altruism”. Now, in order to make sharing work, as we banded together as tribes, we had to create a system whereby all tribe members would contribute their efforts in a combined effort to insure the tribe’s survival. What evolved was basically a contract, a “biological contract” which stated that in order to share in the food, protection, and support which was available to you as a member of the tribe you did what the tribe expected of you. Failure to do so would find you once again facing the saber toothed tiger in the bush, alone. So how does that relate to our thinking today?
When you view the mind of man as structured to hunt and gather you begin to see that the mind knows only to gather or hoard as much as it can to insure the individual’s survival within the tribe or to become as competitive as possible when it perceives itself in an atmosphere of fear that the tribe will not share its resources, its protection or its support and acceptance. Our deepest fears of the future and our regrets about the past can all be reduced, at some level, to the echo of that fear generated by our biological contract. As such the biological contract, as in all contracts, needed to be enforced and was done so through the following methods:
 Shame
 Blame
 Guilt
 Moral outrage
 Pity (including self pity)
Those members of the tribe who threatened the tribal social structure and tried to circumvent the contract were brought back in line through the use of one of the above methods. It takes little effort at observation to see that these enforcement methods are still in use today.
I know I concern myself daily with my access to resources, protection, and to support or acceptance. My most basic fears tell me that my survival depends upon it. Deep in my biology I still feel a need to adhere to the contract or I will be “abandoned by the tribe and die”. The tribe is long dead! Why then do I continue to live under its contractual obligations and respond to its methods of enforcement? Good question! If I am to free myself from this contract I must first acknowledge it and the basic fears associated with it. The fear of rejection, the fear of not being able to compete and the fear that the world is just not safe at any level, need to be dealt with and I must realize that these basic fears will not ever go away. Individually I “own” one of these fears to a much higher level than the others. It seasons the decisions I make and I accept that the best I can hope for is that one day it will be like the “monster in the closet” and I will smile at the silly thing I once was afraid of. To live without the influence of the biological contract and its associated fears is to live a life free to make authentic choices based on what I desire most in life… freedom, fun, joy, beauty, creativity, and ease to name but a few.
The first step in voiding the biological contract is giving up the enforcement methods listed above as I employ them in my daily life. Careful heartfelt examination of my daily interactions will reveal that I do indeed use shame, blame, guilt, moral outrage and pity in many ways to influence others to get what I want, to fuel my actions or feel I must have to fulfill my survival needs. When I catch myself employing these methods of enforcement, I make an effort to stop and take another snapshot of what really is true in that moment! For myself and perhaps for many of us there is no saber tooth still lurking there in the bushes. He is after all extinct.

WiiTech

The past few days have been spent removing and then replacing a patio cover for a customer and now friend. A simple task of a 8'x20' roof structure supported by a wall of framed material. I had with me my most trusted friends in the trade. By that I mean a air compressor of Italian manufacture that has been my friend and working companion for over 20 years. At this point it may behoove me to explain that in construction many hand tasks have been replaced with air powered tools. Air powered nailers, staplers, screw drivers etc. They are great time savers and require less effort. Having just purchased for this job, a new air powered palm nailer I was at a certain level of anticipatory excitement around it's inaugural use. Also with me was a new compound miter saw. Now this I know will require a description but from the name you can induce that it allows you to make a cut of compound configuration on a piece of wood. In other words two angles, other than ninety degrees, at the same time. A newer technology that I had been envying for some time. This job was only the second time that I had used it and it had proven it's worth. But now the tale begins.
Shortly after my need of it the compressor died. No air powered palm nailer, no finish nailer, no air driver. Well so now what? Instead of nailing I used screws where I could. Not really a problem. However it is not good to use screws through the finish side of redwood siding. That was where the nailer was to be used. Time to bring out the old reliable hammer. After completing roughly a third of the siding operation I began to realize a certain pleasure in the swing of the hammer and the joy of completing the job despite the lack of time saving, effort saving technology. It was also about that time I realized it was easier and quicker to use a simple straightedge and my trusted skilsaw to cut the 20' long boards to their required lengths where they lay on the ground instead of trying to muscle them onto a support structure, then maneuver them into position to be cut precisely on my new compound miter saw. What was I thinking!
I was so wrapped up in showing up with the latest and greatest tools to help me be more efficient, faster, and yes a little towards supporting my image as a competent contractor, that I forgot the simple pleasures that I enjoy about what I do. I actually enjoyed the rhythmic swinging and solid staccato sound of the hammer as it drove the nail into the wood! It was such a fulfilling experience, so essence rich to stand back and see the completion of a task that was done, as closely as today's standards allow, by hand. Was this thinking at work for me in other aspects of my life? Was there food for thought here?... as my cell phone began loudly ringing from the dash of my truck, taking me away from a peaceful reverie.

A Timely Man

In his latest role Denzel Washington portrays a character with great personal strength, resourcefulness and integrity. An individualist of unwavering purpose whose presence is immediately noted by the energy he projects, which some envy and others react to with varied levels of fear. When I went to see the movie, better than 9 out of 10 of my fellow moviegoers were men. I anticipated seeing what the previews had indicated would be a tale of a man who was as described earlier, living his life as he chose in a manner that served him and most importantly, ultimately served humanity. The character traits we saw portrayed on screen by Denzel are not so much missing in men today as they are put aside in deference to what our society has come to expect men to be. That man was portrayed by Denzel’s counterpart, Gary Oldman. A character who was driven to dominate, driven by greed and the desire for power, obtained at any cost, destroying anything or anyone that got in his way all in service of his own personal desires.
We as men are the destroyers but it should not be in the service of our issue driven wants. Instead our destruction is in the service of making way for the creation of that which serves others, i.e. our spiritual evolution. For thousands of years we have been doing the former and can see as we look around us that only the context has changed, the results have not. We still live in a muddle of greed and desire to dominate. Fear keeps us there. http://bit.ly/ifiAQ Getting beyond that fear is the reason for our journey here. All the rich rewards we seek await us as we navigate what is a very narrow path.

Call of the Sirens

I have just began to read "The Not So Big Life" written by Sarah Susanka. Early on she writes "All of us have been conditioned by our parents, our schools, and our culture to become valued, contributing members of a society that depends on our willingness to play the game for its very survival. And we in turn oblige by going to work every day, bringing home a paycheck, providing for our famiies, and in the process purchasing an appropriate quantity of goods to support our consumer society. We rarely if ever stop and wonder if things are really the way they appear to be. Our conditioning tells us this is so, and we accept it. But could there be another way of perceiving things?"
I applaud Ms. Susanka's insight. Our response to the constant barrage of advertising to buy, buy, buy, had been to do exactly that. We buy because we are convinced we really neeed that excercise machine to maintain a physical appearance that will allow us to compete in the job market and the "relationship market" if you will. We need to upgrade our autos to stay in style and in step with the latest gizmos and add-ons. And of course how could we not respond to the call of the fashion sirens. We've made our lives so complicated that now we've created a market for goods and services that promise to simplify our complicated life. Stop. And when you have managed to become very still, listen to and follow your heart.

New Age Spirituality

[The following is by Jennie Marlow http://www.blog.overcomingfearofuncertainty.com/. I loved it so much that I wanted to include it here. I hope you find it interesting and useful.]

New Age spirituality began in the 19th century with metaphysical movements like Spiritualism and New Thought. In the 1960s and 1970s, many counter-culture groups gathered themselves under the umbrella of the term. Some ideas that characterize New Age thought include reincarnation, an afterlife devoted to the soul’s journey of evolution in consciousness, and practices such as meditation, spiritual growth and energetic healing. Central to the philosophies of the movement are a higher purpose for a human’s life and the need for the individual to follow his or her own spiritual path. The New Age has sparked many popular life-style movements such as organic food, sustainable living, alternative medicine and an interest in Eastern practices such as yoga, tai chi and qi gong.


The “post-New-Age” is a term coined by Spotted Eagle to describe a shift away from the New Age idea that people can accumulate vast amounts of wealth and possessions through positive thinking and affirmations. Spotted Eagle disputes the validity of the core of these prosperity consciousness notions: the Ask-Believe-Receive model for “manifestation” and the “Law of Attraction,” an idea first proposed by 19th century lawyer and occultist, William Walker Atkinson, in a book entitled, Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World, published in 1906.


Spotted Eagle’s post-New-Age model focuses, not on wealth creation, but how we want our lives to feel. His model emphasizes essence, the feeling experience we desire from our possessions, relationships, careers and everything else in our lives. He says that fear of uncertainty is the root cause of our suffering. By avoiding or medicating our emotional pain, we lose sight of essence and reinforce behavior and thought patterns that cause us to suffer the effects of what he calls the “anxious mind,’ the part of our humanness that craves the illusion of certainty and security. In his post-New-Age model, perception, behavior and choices are demonstrated to create the vast majority of the outcomes of our lives. He posits that if we root out the out-of-power distortions in our perception, and resist the temptation to medicate or act out existential fear, then our behavior and choices will be authentic, guided by our desire to experience essence qualities like joy, creativity, ease, freedom, fun, unconditional love, satisfaction, contribution, and so forth. In Spotted Eagle’s model, positive thinking, when fantasy-based and used as a cover-up for fear, can be just as destructive as negative thinking. In the post-New-Age model, neutral, undistorted thinking results from exercising dominion over the anxious mind through such practices as observing our “story,” waiting out our emotional wave and seeking emotional neutrality before taking action. Through undistorted thinking, our emotional pain will be allowed to move to its natural conclusion of acceptance and balance.


To read & learn more of Jennie's work please visit:

http://steeltoedmoccasin.com/ http://www.jenniemarlow.com/

Overcoming Fear

"In order to overcome fear at the deepest level, we must first understand where the tendency to fear is sourced. The first thing we must embrace is that overcoming fear is the journey, our spiritual path, the reason we have come to the earth plane. When we understand that overcoming fear is our soul's intention, we can see why being human would be a crucial part of this experience." Spotted Eagle quote#

It really should come as no surprise as we consider this teaching from Spotted Eagle that we do experience fear on a daily basis to one level or another and considering the environment that we have created for ourselves as a species we seem to be very intent on learning this lesson. Perhaps a place to begin is to realize that in the moment that it takes you to read this you probably are not experiencing much fear. You are not hungry, you are not without a roof over your head and probably not naked. So perhaps in the moment is where we need to be. Not in the future imagining the worst or in the past berating ourselves with what we perceive to be our mistakes. If we have demonstrated nothing else we humans have demonstrated that we can and do learn. Let us put the lessons to good use in service to the good of all, to the oneness.

Security???

"Giving up security usually means giving up your drama about what you have been through in your life. This is because we often envision security as whatever will keep us from going through unpleasant events we have experienced in the past, especially in matters of money and love. No journey into consciousness is complete until we leave security behind, and learn how to be joyful without it."

This quote, from one of my teachers Grandfather White Elk, is probably at the heart of what challenges many of us. It bears contemplation. It ties in with being in the present moment and dancing with whatever uncertainty the universe may present you with in that moment. Which is most often pleasant enough and often quite pleasing.

Inspiration

"There is no more important spiritual endeavor you can undertake than the unflinching examination of your darkest fears and most spectacular fantasies. When you experience a surge of emotions, whether positive or negative, your psyche is displaying for you the Mind's fabrications. If you are able to focus your attention inward during these moments of intense reaction, and take full responsibility for the distortions of Mind upon your reality, your evolution will be served enormously." A quote from White Buffalo.

Spontaneity

"Employ spontaneity in the service of actualizing essence. Anchor yourself in the now. Dance with the potentials that are present. Allow a choice based on essence to set up a flow . Allow one essence-rich choice to lead you to the next, without having to know where the flow is taking you." This a quote from Spotted Eagle.

Health Care?

There has been much said about the body in metaphysical circles. To start there is a lot of mythology and misinformation about what bodies are for, what they are about, and what their condition reflects. A growing increasingly obvious objection to this New Age model of physical perfection is that it purports a Nirvana fantasy, that if we just get our thoughts in proper order, that a perfect body will suddenly be reflected.

The body is really the soul's vehicle for expression on the material plane. It is the only way the soul can access this classroom about fear, in our case, the Earth-plane. The human body is our current vehicle of choice, and this has proved to be a very effective choice because it has given the soul a very broad framework for connecting to physical awareness and then exerting its higher awareness in order to have dominon over biological urges. The body-psyche complex of a human being comes complete with a biological tendency to fear the future, so this makes the body a perfect tool for overcoming fear.

The above perspective was offered in a workshop given by Jennie Marlow on transforming your health and well-being. Perhaps the simplest first step we can take in improving and maintaining our health is to take responsibility for our actions that directly affect our health. How much and what we eat, what we drink, where we choose to live and what level of stress do we continue to bear in the quest for what marketers tell us we should have to be considered successful. That question could begin with a deep inner search to answer the question "What do I consider to be a succcessful life?" Above all we ought to take some time to look inside ourselves and explore what really lies there.