Not All Dreams Are Created Equal

A Symbolic Dream

One of the first priorities when we start to work with dreams is to distinguish what to focus on, as not all dreams are created equal. Occasionally we can become overwhelmed trying to interpret every dream that enters our awareness. Recently, I have been witnessing dreams that come as an affirmation of our current life journey. It is as though the soul wants to assure us that we are on the right path. One dream-partner shared a dream of being able to sing beautifully, it was an amazing moment as she has always aspired to sing and now the voice in the dream was the one she had always longed for. She knew immediately that the dream was not about a vocal miracle; it was a declaration that she had found her voice in the world in which she lived.

So what are some of the other forms that dreams may take?

• Junk Mail Dreams There are dreams that come simply to support us in discarding the psychic trash. These dreams are full of haphazard, overlapping images that can create chaos in the waking mind. Treat these like junk mail; they came to pass and perhaps clear some of the detritus from an overloaded mind.
• Anxiety Dreams There are the classic anxiety dreams that everyone will occasionally encounter; you arrive at the airport without ticket, passport or bag; you sit an exam with no pencil or paper. These are a normally a sign of some harmless anxiety about a future event however if your dreams are always anxious then it will be important to explore the underlying cause.
• Precognitive Dreams Infrequently you may have dreams that are pre-cognitive of a future event. These dreams are generally like a photograph: clear, accurate, no symbols. There is no explaining these dreams outside of the context that “we are more than we think we are”.
• Collective Dreams Some dreams may represent something happening in the collective consciousness at the time. Carl Jung dreamed images of the First World War before it happened. I recall attending a meditation on the evening of September 11^th 2001 and everyone except one person there had experienced disturbed sleep the night prior to the event.
• Dreams of the Life Not Lived They totally intrigue me; I encountered them at a time when I was deeply involved in pursuing my spiritual quest and spending a lot of time in meditation and on retreat. I began to have these movie type dreams full of action and adventure; these were related to the lack of exciting activity in my life at the time. I always regretted that I could not recall them as I am convinced there was an Oscar contender in their somewhere.
• Symbolic Dreams of Guidance The ones I focus on in my workshops. Much has been written and explored but look for these signs of a significant dream: it features people you know, three is a significant number, it contains emotion and energy, it is about travel, your waking self tells you it is a “stupid meaningless dream”, and particularly if you have similar dreams on a theme.

• Dreams Outside of Time Sometimes these symbolic guidance dreams occur before the event in question has occurred; this can be confusing but very affirming after the event has transpired and you realize that you had a dream that helped you cope with the experience. I had one such dream recently. “I am standing on a ocean beach, I feel I am too close to the waves and move back to a safer distance however a huge wave swamps me right up to the centre of my chest then recedes leaving me no worse for wear. My sister Chris and her daughter Amy are there. The scene segues to a sparse forest with lots of space between the trees. Suddenly I put my hands in my pocket and find my keys missing, then I think I find them and then realize they are not the right keys as my shorts have changed. I begin to panic as it is getting dark, my sister and I retrace our steps, she finds my keys hanging in a tree.” This dream is about allowing myself to get swamped by emotion and knowing I will be safe then trusting that although I may not know what is going on the “key” lies through the feminine feelings. This dream came a couple of months before the event actually took place.
• Energy Dreams My dream partner reminded me there are also dreams of pure energy. They are not always easy to understand but frequently offer a sense of connection to the divine through our chi and our chakras. In this type of dream the body can feel as though an electric current is flowing through it.
• Dreams of Invention It was a dream that led Einstein to develop his theories of relativity and Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing machine, had a dream of being surrounded by cannibals with long spears with a hole in the end that helped him solve where the eye in the needle needed to go.

As my wonderful teacher Atum O’Kane says, “Having a dream and failing to explore it is like receiving a gift and not unwrapping it.” For a free dream partnering download go to http://www.soulclarity.com/free_taste.html

The Soul’s Journey – When We Are Stuck

“Midway on Life’s journey I found myself in a dark wood where the right way was wholly lost and gone.”

Signs of Soul Distress

We can all feel out of sorts at times but often we don’t even realize the downward arc we are on. Without being aware, we can find ourself mired in a slough of despond and the way forward seems closed to us. We may begin to experience a number of debilitating signs.

1) Withdrawal of energy or life force.

2) Ennui – a sense of boredom, listlessness and dissatisfaction.

3) A lack of focus and motivation.

4) Lethargy and inertia.

5) Life becomes dominated by distractions e.g. TV, mindless behaviours, computer games.

Exploring The Challenge

Poet Kahil Gibran in his exquisite book The Prophet suggests that “your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.” I think the starting point is to explore our current state through three lenses.

“Shit Happens” – sometimes there is no evident rhyme nor reason to our changing circumstances. We just have to accept and move on.

We are being asked to live in a new state of surrender to the situation, letting go of the old and accepting the new.

There is a deeper meaning we are being asked to explore. The circumstances have developed to help us open to something new to which we may be in resistance.

What Feeds Me

Sometimes a response resonates immediately and often it does not. The key is allow the deeper self, soul, intuition to bring forward an answer, Frequently the mind tries to solve the problem on its own, this rarely succeeds! Eminent Jungian analyst and author James Hollis writes “ you have within you a powerful source – call it your instinct, your intuition, your gut wisdom – which will always tell you what is right for you.”

I believe that accessing this requires bringing attention to those things that serve the deeper self. I have developed a “Soul Rescue Kit” to help me. This kit is a compendium of what feeds me when I am stuck? It includes meditation, listening to music, contemplation, walking in nature and beauty, reciting poetry, chanting, contemplation, and a review of my Soul Book. (A journal that contains inspiring stories, quotes and poems.)

Next I set an intention and an affirmation. For example sometimes I go to the beach, stretch up my arms to the sun and repeat. “I am open and receptive to the inner spirit of guidance”. Each of us need to find our own phrase for an intention.

Opening To The Mystery

The final step is patience and attention. The inner voice speaks to us through dreams, intuition, gut feelings, metaphor and symbols, and serendipity. Pay close attention to the events of your life. The mystery approaches us once we open to it. Then once you find your way again, your life will support you. The overcast lifts and as James Hollis reminds, “ when what we are doing is right for us. We will feel a sense of purpose, meaning and satisfaction.”

We cannot avoid getting stuck at times, what we can do is bring consciousness and practice to the situation as opposed to slipping into old patterns. As Rumi once said, “The real truth of existence is sealed until after many twists and turns of the road. The seeker says had I know the real way it was I would have stopped looking around. But that way of knowing depends on the time spent looking.”

The Soul’s Journey- Engaging The Mystery

“All we can say for sure is that a mystery comes through us, seeking its own fullest incarnation, and that whenever we serve the mystery within us, we experience a linkage to the mystery outside. When we stand in conscious relationship to the mystery, we are more deeply alive.” James Hollis Swamplands of the Soul.

I encountered this quote many years ago, wrote it down without really comprehending its power and meaning. However it resonated; I began a morning affirmation: “To explore my relationship with the Mystery”, I began to examine the journey of my life in context of mystery. I kept track in a journal dedicated to recording moments of awe and wonder, remarkable synchronicities, and other mystical experiences.

Recently a friend of mine completed a soul collage, a practice to facilitate inner exploration and and told me her title was “Engaging the Mystery”. I felt drawn back to the original quote like a moth drawn to light. What does it mean to serve the mystery within us? How do we experience a linkage to the mystery outside? Does it result in feeling more deeply alive?

Defining Mystery

This is obviously a contradiction of terms, as if we could define the mystery. It would no longer be mystery. However, the mystery will at times represent different things, depending upon where we are on our personal journey. Eminent Jungian analyst and author James Hollis in his book Creating a Life basically indicates that when atheism and agnosticism no longer served him, he reluctantly concluded that it was all “a blooming mystery.” In my case it is the name I have given to the limited sense of transcendence I still sense. Once I had traversed various stages in my spiritual journey – God as the father figure, the universe as a benevolent source of supply, God as the lover, God as the arbiter of my conscious evolution, and various combinations of each, I came to the realization I could only see it as a mystery. I believe in something but have no idea what. I love the observation by Buddhist teacher and author Steven Mitchell, “as soon as we say God is anything we are a billion light years away.”

Serving The Mystery Within

I sense I began serving the mystery within without even seeing it that way. I began to meditate in 1994. I recall I started more as a stress reduction modality. A renowned Buddhist teacher Jon Kabot-Zyn extolled the benefits in terms of stress reduction, boosting the immune system and emotional stability. It was the first commitment I made to what I now consider a spiritual practice. In hindsight I suspect it was a catalyst for everything that happened afterwards. Perhaps sitting to meditate was akin to the obelisk in 2001 A Space Odyssey sending out a signal that I was ready to engage the mystery.

Now I believe there are two primary requirements for serving the mystery. First the intentional. We start to explore possibilities that work for us. I think each of us must develop our own lexicon of practices. Mine include: meditation, contemplation, walking in beauty and nature, listening to sacred music, soulful literature and poetry, engaging with the arts. My sacred texts include both the Spiritual and the psychological.

The second requirement is to pay attention to that which approaches us from within. This includes dreams, feelings, visions our own mystic experiences, energy, and emotions. Mystic experiences are hard to define as they are experiential and perhaps meaningful only to us. For example, last year I walked into Durham Cathedral in the UK where they were engaged in a choral service. In that moment, tears, laughter, confusion and mystery combined into a moment I can’t explain. I believe that this combination of intention and attention create a field of possibility for the mystery to engage with us in the external reality.

Experiencing The Mystery Outside

This is so personal, and mostly experienced through inexplicable stories. So conclusions are difficult to draw. My own experience suggests that the mystery can open to us in the outer world in a variety of ways – psychic experiences, increased synchronicities, an activated intuition, signs, somatic experience through the body, divination tools and oracles. All we can do is pay close attention, and do our best to interpret the meaning of such things. (Hollis refers to synchronicity as the manifestation of energies moving through the invisible world and entering the visible world as seeming coincidence.”)

Here are some examples from my own and other people’s lives.

⁃ I had a psychic love affair. Impossible to explain or even understand, but it resulted in a total change of my worldview and a pursuit of spiritual inquiry, which has never ceased.

⁃ A friend of mine woke one day with the thought “I need to see Trevor”. It appeared improbable as simultaneously I was at the airport checking for my flighty to the sun of Mexico. Except only my flight was delayed to the next day. Somewhat reluctantly I retraced my steps home and spontaneously walked to Granville Island. I decided to pop into his part-time office and see if he was free for lunch. He got his wish after all.

⁃ Another friend, after a life threatening accident, began to explore her inner world. She later fulfilled her dream to become the lead guitarist for a major group. While performing recently she began to suffer from the “imposter syndrome”. She began to explore the underlying cause. Within a few days she received numerous spontaneous endorsements of her ability as well as a guitar manufacturer giving her two guitars as a an appreciation for her talent.

⁃ I was with a friend one evening and we drew Tarot cards. From a well shuffled deck of 74 cards we both drew the same card – the odds of this are .00018! The card read, “By love the dead are made living.” It meant nothing to either of us. The next day I got the sad news a friend of mine had died unexpectedly from a heart attack.

⁃ I am attending a retreat at Unity Village in Missouri. On the final day, a fellow retreatant handed me a cassette tape and stated, “God told me to give you this.” I threw it in my bag. Three days later I suffered a spiritual/emotional crisis and heard the still small voice in my head suggest I listen to it. It introduced me to the cosmic 2×4. I could go on and on. To me these are all ways the mystery inside engage in the mystery outside.

⁃ I am preparing an article for a newsletter I have interviewed a candidate and am struggling to find a coherent thread. My throat closes up; I think ”it is hard to swallow”, I laugh and move on to another story. My throat spontaneously opens again

It seems the mystery has a sense of humour!

In Conscious Relationship With The Mystery We Are More Deeply Alive

I think I feel more alive when I feel hope. Sometimes I think Homo Sapiens is a failed experiment but experiencing the mystery in these ways help me to believe that somewhere there may be something that makes sense of this mess. In addition experiencing meaning in my own life creates a sense of vitality and joy that invigorates me. Finally at 79 I still feel so alive and loving of my life. I cannot claim there is cause and effect. I have witnessed too many bad things happen to good people yet I do believe we can increase our sense of well being through engaging with this mystery both spiritually and psychologically.

This feels significant to me. James Hollis suggests that facing death it is important that we had a linkage with a larger order of meaning, some connection with the mystery that courses through history and animates the individual soul. Perhaps this is one way we can achieve this connection.

The Soul’s Journey – Spirituality vs. Psychology

My Spiritual Journey Begins

In the early nineties my second wife left me and I began an inner journey that continues to this day. As the trauma from this experience receded, I began to consider that perhaps my worldview was too limited. Then an unexpected psychic experience and encounter with a psychotherapist resulted in new perspective. “I was a spiritual being having a human experience” The result was a search for meaning, a commitment to find a spiritual path and to pursue the journey of my soul. Over the next fifteen years I dedicated myself to this exploration. I was guided to join the Unity Church, enrolled in a two year program called The Art of Spiritual Guidance, and even registered at the Vancouver School of Theology. It was intense, engaging and meaningful but there was a major problem. I really did not change. Despite all my efforts I could be the same reactive, hurtful, judgemental person; at times inconsiderate and lacking compassion. It was humbling and frustrating. My quest for enlightenment was failing.

The Spiritual Bypass

It was about 15-years ago over a margarita at happy hour in beautiful Sayulita I was recounting to a friend my curiosity about someone I met while on vacation. Following a relationship break-up, she had become deeply devoted to a spiritual path; which had become a major focus for her life yet I sensed that many deeper personal issues had been sidetracked. “Ah the spiritual bypass” my wise friend observed. Suddenly I saw the relevance not only for my friend, also about me. Was my quest for enlightenment actually another way of resisting my development as a human being? I wondered if I was inadvertently using spirituality as a means of avoiding what I now see as the real work – engaging with spiritual ideas and practices to avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks”. The term Spiritual Bypass was introduced in the mid 1980s by John Welwood, a Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist. It one of the ways we resist focus on the most difficult work.

A Note on Resistance

I have lost count of how many blogs I have written on resistance (mostly my own.) Basically resistance, like a chameleon, has many disguises. – denial, distraction, diversion, food indulgence, procrastination, avoidance, rationalization and of course the spiritual bypass can all be signs. These are all ways we avoid doing that which calls us to a deeper level. Two millennia ago, St. Paul wrote, “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing.” We still unavoidably fall into the same trap.

The Beginning of Change

My first step to change was the awareness that I had not become the person I imagined I would become. I think I believed that through prayer and meditation, contemplation and belief in higher power, the change would occur naturally. My focus was to align with the teachings of the wisdom schools, yet I found love, compassion and forgiveness as elusive targets. When my spiritual enquiry failed to shift my persona, I searched for other possibilities. I remember encountering, Debbie Ford’s book The Dark Side of the Light Chasers, and although the message helped me understand my “dark side”, it didn’t really facilitate much change. (However at least I now knew I wasn’t alone) It was not until I encountered a book “Why Good People do Bad Things” by an author and Jungian analyst named James Hollis on the bargain table at Banyen Books that I began to understand how challenging personal change really was.

Soul Work Must be Both Psychological as well as Spiritual

This was the insight that allowed me the slow process of personal change. The saying goes that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. In my case, the teacher was James Hollis, and from 2009 on he has been the guiding force behind my understanding of the unconscious and its power to shape our day-to-day reality. I learned that many of my conscious reactions were shaped by buried complexes, historic energy centres that rush from their subterranean depths like Jaws and possess us. Carl Jung once commented that once you realize the power of the unconscious, you understand you are no longer master in your own house. It is only by doing the intense work of understanding through dreams, reactions, patterns of behaviour, emotions, signs and synchronicity, that we can begin to comprehend this. I made the commitment to unravel my own psychology and slowly, but surely that is making all the difference. It has been a 15-year long journey that continues to this day!

As I look back I realize that beliefs change, circumstances alter, and at times it is like chasing a moving target but as Hollis says, “there are only answers that make sense you at this moment in your life and they will fail you tomorrow. What is seemingly true today will be outgrown when your life or soul brings you a larger frame through which to view them.” What matters most is to keep on regardless. It isn’t always easy, you don’t see immediate results but it makes for an interesting life.

The Soul’s Journey – Reflections on Grace

Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me,

I once was lost, but now am found

Was blind, but now I see.

I have always loved this refrain. From my days as a young evangelical Christian, believing that we were saved by the blood of Jesus, to my senior years, 70 years later, I am still beguiled, mostly by the exquisite melody. Today I explored renditions on YouTube from gospel to bagpipes, Andrea Bocelli to a group called Celtic Woman that combined vocal, bagpipes and a full orchestra. This rendition had over 92 million views. I am not alone!

My perspective on the word Grace has modified many times over the years. The more religious, traditional definition “divine assistance, being saved, a state of sanctification, a virtue from God” has mostly evaporated like a morning mist. I became more attached to the concept of “elegance, refinement and courteous goodwill.” (Merriam-Webster dictionary).

Frequently, when I walk in the countryside of North Devon, I walk beside fields bordered by what looks like grimy, algae filled ditches, yet I will invariably encounter one or two beautiful, graceful swans that regardless of surroundings are the epitome of charm and beauty. To me grace flows elegantly, has a dignity and refinement. I find palm trees swaying in a tropical breeze graceful, there are graceful sports such as skiing and roller blading. Grace also seems to me to carry joy. The world would be poorer without grace which I think enriches us.

Yet there are other perspectives to grace that I have come to appreciate. Eminent Jungian analyst and author James Hollis suggests that “ Grace obliges the strength of character which enables us to forgive ourselves and others for stupidity, cruel, ignorance, narcissism, and inattentiveness.”

Then the teachings of theologian and philosopher Paul Tillich who suggested, “. Grace is being accepted even though you are unacceptable.” Both perspectives suggest grace is a gift not only from an external perception but from an inner perspective as well.

A friend of mine offered the perspective on grace as a benediction, gift, offering, often unexpected and maybe undeserved which aligns with Paul Tillich. This resonates with me as reflecting on my life it seems to have been guided by events beyond my control that shaped it. Perhaps I now see them as somewhat metaphysical, perhaps spiritual and more aligned with the theme of the lyrics. They form part of this mystery we call life.

As I think back on the amazing journey I have experienced over the past 79 years, I can see moments when life brought me what seems undeserved positive experiences that helped shape the future.

⁃ an unexpected psychic encounter that reshaped my worldview.

⁃ The teachers that crossed my path at exactly the perfect times.

⁃ The fellow travellers on this amazing journey who are always there for me.

⁃ The dreams, signs, serendipity and synchronicities that emerge unexpectedly to guide my path.

My grandma used to sing, “Count your blessings, name them one by one”. A lovely practice that still has relevance today. The grace I experience seems far more significant than the “saving, one dimensional grace of my childhood”. It seems more adult; it results in me taking more responsibility and finding direction to my life. As the wonderful graceful poet Hafiz wrote “ now is the time for you to compute the impossibility that there is anything but grace.”

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The Soul’s Journey – an Introvert Disadvantage

I am content to follow to its source,

Every event in action or in thought;

Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!

When, such as I cast out remorse,

So great a sweetness flows into the breast,

We must laugh, and we must sing,

We are blessed by everything,

Everything we look upon, is blessed.

W.B.Yeats.

This delicious poem by Yates written when he was about the same age, as I am wonderfully describes the gifts derived from doing our inner work. Recently, I had this kind of experience that unexpectedly, led to an amazing insight.

I am meeting friends at the Spaghetti Factory in Whistler. I try to get together with them every time I visit; we don’t see each other that often, and it is always a delightful, and meaningful evening. My favourite kind of social occasion when it is a small group and we can have in-depth conversations.

They were waiting in the lobby, and as I stood beside them, one of my friends announced, “there will be five of us tonight. I’ve invited another couple.” I noticed a flush energy flow through my body and recognized immediately a reaction that is familiar – a complex had engaged.

A complex was first identified by C. G. Jung, and best explained by James Hollis as “ a cluster of history, charged with energy that affects the present moment”. It resides in what is commonly referred to as the unconscious. When it is triggered, it grabs us like an eruption from the deep, and we are in its control. It can lead to violent reactions that seem inconsistent with the present moment.

I have spent many years learning to address them, each of us will experience them in our own particular way, I have learned to recognize this flush of energy through my body as a transparent sign of a complex engaging. As a result, I am learning not to react in the moment, but try to take a pause to consider my response.

I noticed in this particular case, the flush of energy was accompanied by a desire to leave. The traditional flight complex that can emerge as opposed to the fight complex, which can also show up. During the microsecond, in which all this occurred, my friend perceived perhaps, all was not well and asked me, “is that all right?” My response was “I don’t know I need to process this and I may need to leave.”

I explained that as an extrovert, for him it was always the more the merrier. For me as an introvert, it was always the less the merrier. I stood breathing, trying to relax and allow the reactions of the child, which are always associated with a complex, to dissipate. I realized that I would stay, but would have to adjust my perspective because my childish pattern might’ve been to express my feelings in a negative way and making sure everyone knew I was unhappy. I looked for an “attitude adjustment.”

During dinner, I was positive, upbeat, and I think probably quite engaging. In fact, my friend said to me afterwards, “Well, you looked like you were having a good time.” I knew that my real work began the next morning when I explored my experience and my feelings.

As always it is a humbling and revelatory experience. I realized at the heart of my reaction was a sense of overwhelment at the change in the circumstances surrounding the dinner. This was associated with the challenge that I had no control on what had transpired.

Complexes usually develop during childhood and I suspect that when as an introvert I began to become overwhelmed, I would do what I could to manage, probably through escape or often by sulking. This likely contributed to the controlling personality I developed and is something I have worked with over the years. When that control is taken away, then I am at the mercy of the child underneath. In this case, the child wanted to leave.

As an adult, I have learned to deal with such things in different ways and developing a positive attitude to cope with this had positive results. The earlier I see the complex, the less likely I am to react like a child.

At this point, I had a eureka moment. I realized my father had been an introvert. I had always been amazed by his behaviours in response to certain events. For example, his initial reaction was to refuse to go to his daughter’s wedding and his first response to our one and family reunion was to say he would not attend. In each case he became the life and soul of the event to the astonishment of his family.

Suddenly I understood him in a way I never had before. As an introvert his immediate reaction, was to feel overwhelmed by the event, and to refuse to go. However once he overcame that he moved into the same kind of compensatory behaviour that his son did years later.

Of course it also helped me understand myself, and realize this complex is genetically related to being an introvert and that is something I was born with. So, even though I may not be able to avoid the complex I can learn to manage my response. As the great management guru, Stephen Covey once suggested, “ between the stimulus and the response, there is a gap.” It is often a minimal interval of time but once we learn to recognize it, we can find space to change our behaviors.

NB I learned the difference between an introvert and extrovert, from a marvellous book given to me by a friend called, The Introvert Advantage by Marti Olsen Laney. It changed my life.

The Soul’s Journey – Reflections on the Dark Wood

“Midway on life’s journey I found myself alone in a dark wood where the right way was wholly lost and gone.” Dante’s Divine Comedy.

I have long loved this quotation from Dante’s Divine comedy that seems to relate so precisely to a number of episodes in my life where I could not see the way forward. I do not believe that in the first half of my life, psychologically at least, I was able to appreciate these moments where there was no apparent way forward. The concept of life being a journey had not really occurred to me. Perhaps it is only in hindsight that I can see so clearly the dark wood that at times was obscuring clarity about my future direction.

In hindsight the moment my second wife left me after only a year and a half of marriage was a time when “the right way was wholly lost and gone”. At the age of 50 I had placed all my expectation of the future on another person – children, partnership, social and psychological needs and they had crashed to the ground like a sandcastle facing a wave.

Although I can now clearly see the necessity of this transition for me to live the life intended for me, all I could see then was the absence of a way forward. Yet a new direction opened and slowly and hesitantly I chose a path that led to becoming a spiritual coach and explorer of the inner worlds.

Recently I was engaging in my daily practice of reading eminent teacher and Jungian analyst James Hollis and encountered the question, “what is your task and what are you in service to?” He noted that our task will change at different stages of our lives so it was important to revisit this issue.

No clear answer sprang to mind. My activities as decision-making author, spiritual coach, dream facilitator and teacher of exploring our inner landscape had diminished with time. As I entered my eightieth year I knew I was content with living in the Elysian Fields traditionally the place where good souls rested – “a peaceful and beautiful region, full of meadows, groves, sunlight, and fresh air.”

Do I need a task or to be in service to anything rather than completing this life living as fully as I can and doing no harm? I realize the dark wood is behind me and that I now stand on its fringe in a state of acceptance knowing that different paths present themselves. The path of good health and an active life, a path of sickness and a more sedentary existence and the ultimate conclusion – death. So what is my task? I sat pondering and the word that came to me was friendship. I will live this final part of my journey being the friend as best as I can.

In my mind the words from Dante began to reconfigure themselves. “Approaching the closing of life’s journey, I found myself at the edge of the dark wood. The paths ahead were clearly defined but I no longer could choose which would subsume me. Yet I can define my attitude and comportment and I choose friendship as my companion.

The Soul’s Journey – The Power of Belief?

What is belief? Oxford Languages, the worlds largest publisher of dictionaries and the provider to Google, defines belief as:

1) An acceptance that a statement is true and that something exists.

2) Trust, faith of confidence in someone or something.

I have observed that belief or faith in something can have enormous power. Belief in a particular political cause can cause massive disruption when faced with an opposing view. Belief in a particular creed, religion or dogma has caused wars, civil disobedience and discrimination against others. Yet there is a much more positive aspect to belief.

Over the past twenty years I have become curious about how genuine belief or faith in something can actually have power over one’s reality. It is a concept that challenges rational thought and the scientific method yet during my life I have observed different beliefs, often contrasting beliefs, apparently having the power to effect an outcome. These few are from my personal experience.

The Belief in an All Powerful God

My parents were evangelical Christians who truly believed that God would provide. Their belief came from scripture. In Philippians 4:19 it states “And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” They believed this and there was always just enough even if it took a miracle to accomplish it. On one occasion I heard them discussing the fact that they could not meet the mortgage payment on our house in a lovely part of London and unless God showed up with some solution we would be forced to move. The next day an envelope containing a significant amount of currency arrived with a note to my father saying, “God asked me to send you this.” Anyone who has been associated with evangelical Christians will know of similar miracles. It is often used as proof that their God is the one true God.

The Belief in the Conscious Relationship With a Transcendent Power

This is not that different and was propagated by “new thought” Christianity, where God was kinder, less authoritative and would reward you for right thinking and living. Based on your consciousness, God would reward you with prosperity, relationship and health. For a while I became deeply committed to this belief through the Unity Church and my belief seemed to pay dividends particularly in terms of prosperity and healing. At that time I had some experiences that defied reason in terms of spontaneous healing. I began to study at their seminary and the power of right thinking and positive outcome was accepted by all.

The Belief in Positive Thinking

Then of course during the nineties there was a new belief system that suggested that all you needed to get your heart’s desires was to hold the attention and it would come to you. This was very attractive because you didn’t need to take any responsibilty for right thinking or right relationship, you just had to wish it enough and would come to you. The pinnacle of this movement was something called “The Secret” that became the rage. All you had to do was hold the belief that the universe was like a giant candy store and all you had to do was set the intention and it was yours for the taking. Many people were absolutely convinced and the stories of positive results abounded.

The Belief in a Guiding Principle in Your Life.

Almost every spiritual teacher, most Jungian analysts and many other conscious and evolved human beings that I have encountered believe that underlying the progress of their lives has been a form of guidance. Eminent Jungian analyst Robert Johnson refers to it as the “slender threads” that have connected his life. They are generally not predictable, often not explicable, and frequently are influenced by synchronicity – a word Carl Jung devised to describe a meaningful coincidence. An example was someone not turning up to take a position for which he had been hired which forced me to take his place. The unexpected consequences and ripple effect of this resulted in a series of radical impacts that directly caused my life to shift from successful adverting executive to spiritual coach. It is usually accompanied by a belief in the Soul or Self – an aspect of our unconscious that manifests its guidance through dreams, synchronicity, signs, body language even oracles.

Spontaneous or Conscious Manifestation?

I believe they can be both and either. Setting intention and paying attention can support this inner power yet especially in my earlier years of exploration there was a sense of the meaningful experience coming out of the blue and approaching me.What has been consistent has been the belief in something! Strangely it does not seem to be what you believe in that influences the outcome as much as a fervently held belief. The catch is the belief must exist both in the conscious mind and the unconscious. Once the belief loses its depth or conviction then my experience is that the source dries up. It is nothing but a dry husk.

How and Why does this work?

Frankly I have no idea! I have experienced both the power and benefit and the loss of it. It is all part of the strange and wonderful mystery that we get to participate in. I have found that having a belief in something has been so beneficial, losing it is painful yet often leads to a more enriching possibility. I found this interesting story from a guru. “A woman chela [disciple] once asked the guru [Lahiri Mahasaya] for his photograph. He handed her a print, remarking, “If you deem it a protection, then it is so; otherwise it is only a picture.” Lahiri Mahasaval

Postscript

While composing this I was out for dinner, and overheard the most fascinating conversation between a couple, one of whom was obviously a fundamentalist evangelical, and the other I would describe as having new age spiritual beliefs. He was proclaiming the power of his God to bring forward the best possibilities for his life. She was claiming she got the same benefits, provided by her guardian angel. She had no concept of his God nor he in her guardian angel and both were convinced that only they were right. The irony was they may both be correct and that my own belief is really not that different.

The Soul’s Journey – The Lens We Look Through.

Still Nirvana

Recently I had a vivid experience of how an identical situation can look dramatically different depending on the lens through which we view it. Last year I came to Mexico for a month over Christmas and decided to be spontaneous in booking accommodation. Over the years, I have experimented with planning everything on a trip as well as leaving things less organized. I have learned that being spontaneous can significantly increase the magic of an experience. The downside is that sometimes it doesn’t work out and creates equal levels of anxiety. This seems very consistent with the Chinese philosophy of yin-yang suggesting that opposites are also interconnected. I’m

Last year I learned that spontaneity over Christmas in this part of Mexico is a recipe for disaster and yet there was also a moment of magic. My first stay in a town called Sayulita was not ideal. I had booked late, it was a nice room, but it was too far from the beach and did not have a patio. I learned this is an essential requisite when I’m having a tropical vacation.

I only had my room for five days because basically, the town was booked up. Searching revealed no desirable accommodation at all. Feeling a little pissed, I decided to look further afield and took the bus to a nearby town called San Francisco. It’s only a few miles up the coast. It was quieter, the town seemed cute, I found a lovely bistro overlooking a sandy beach, then tried to find a place to stay. Absolutely no luck! Things looked bleak, this spontaneity thing sucked! Somewhat disconsolately I was walking back to catch the bus back; I was strolling through a delightful palm strewn,, grassy space adjacent to the bistro and the ocean when a voice interrupted my frustration. “Can I help you?” I looked up to see a reception desk where a pretty Mexican young woman named Fernanda was seated.

I realized I was walking through what appeared to be a boutique hotel. Spontaneously I responded, “do you have any rooms available?” She replied that they were full, but then hesitated and said well, you can have this room for five nights, and then you can move to another room for four nights. The first room she identified was absolutely perfect, spacious, clean, with a magnificent view across the palms and a lovely pool to the ocean, together with a delightful outside patio for my personal use. It was expensive but who cared! I snatched it up.

Before I left this paradise, I realized I would plan my next December trip well ahead so made a reservation for two weeks over Christmas and New Year . I was not going to risk any repeat experience. It was an expensive treat to keep this room over Christmas and New Year as the prices went up significantly however, it felt worth it. It seemed an idyllic spot for my stay next year. I left my deposit of 5000 pesos and carried on with my trip.

This year I left nothing to chance. I booked early in what seemed to be a beautiful, new oceanfront hotel in Sayulita called AzulPitaya. Despite Sayulita getting busier, it had a charm and familiarity after sixteen years, and I also get my teeth cleaned here every year. Hopefully this time I had accommodation I could enjoy.

Fortunately I loved my new hotel. It was by far the nicest place I’ve stayed in Mexico. It had spacious rooms, was moderate in size, had a beautiful patio, overlooking the ocean, kitchen facilities, and was modern, clean with very friendly staff. I also got complimentary breakfast, but although I don’t eat at that time of day, I would help myself to fresh fruit – pineapple, papaya, banana, and cantaloup to have later in the day. It felt uncrowded, with a quiet shaded beach area. Basically I enjoyed a blissful six days and I felt reluctant to leave however I had my “nirvana” to look forward to.

It was a short 250 peso cab ride. I was there at noon and I was shocked by the negativity that welled up. What had happened to my perfect escape? It looked jaded, almost shabby in comparison. The manager attempted to move me from the room I had reserved. The patio, table and chairs were dirty, The room was clean and spacious but had few of the accoutrements I was used to. What had happened to the idyllic retreat I had so loved the previous year.

I unpacked noticing the lack of storage space, the absence of a comfortable couch or chair, the fact that the bistro was closed, even the grass did not look as green. I went for a stroll, had a weak, lukewarm coffee and felt thoroughly out of sorts! It was about then I realized I needed an attitude adjustment. I began by analyzing my reaction this year vs. last year. Last year I viewed Hotel Ysuri through the lens of desperation and anxiety. It seemed like the answer to all my prayers. I had found my nirvana. This year I looked at it through a different lens all together. I had just left a very impressive, quite perfect experience. Hotel Ysuri had not changed at all but I had. It had lost its lustre in light of my changed reality.

I cleaned off the table, opened a beer and watched an astonishing sunset. My world began to reform before my eyes. As Canadian motivational speaker Brian Tracey once observed, “ you cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude towards it, and in that you will be mastering change, rather than allowing it to master you.”

Reflections on the Complacency of the Atheist

Complacency is not a word I normally associate with atheists. When I see them they are generally on the attack against some representative of institutionalized religion however recently, I watched a podcast with Richard Dawkins, who wrote the God Delusion, and Ricky Gervais, the acclaimed comedian, actor, writer and atheist. By the end of the presentation, I began to sense a complacency in the two atheists. Of course they had no one to attack. Their perspective seemed to be that they thought they knew all the answers. God was a delusion and rational knowledge and science provided no option than disbelief. They also seemed dismissive of agnostics for sitting on the fence.

Of course it was funny and convincing for the most part yet I felt that the discussion was limited to a framework that allowed no space or possibility for curiosity about the metaphysical. At one juncture the mediator offered them three choices:

1) I believe in God.

2) I don’t believe in God.

3) I don’t know.

Ricky quickly expressed his problem with the question. “The first two are beliefs and the second knowledge. Once you express a belief the third is irrelevant.” (He is very smart). I felt the problem with the question is that it is irrelevant unless you define what you mean by God. If you refer to a personal anthropomorphic deity that controls both the individual and collective affairs of our universe and planet, my answer would clearly be 2. However if one replaces the word God with “The Mystery” my answer would be 1. I don’t need to know what the mystery really means as I am an agnostic with curiosity. I love the quote by by Gerald May, theologian and psychiatrist, “the unique reality of mystery is that mystery can be known without being solved. Mystery can be experienced, appreciated even loved without being understood.”

My sense of the mystery came to me later in life. When I was 14 I became an atheist. I could not believe in the concept of God espoused by my parents which was authoritarian, cruel and heartless and to avoid Hell, a literal place in those days, I had to accept that God sent his son down to be tortured and murdered to save me. It seemed an impossibly insane concept but one that was accepted by my three elder siblings and both my parents. This rejection deeply challenged my father, a lay preacher, who at one time said, “how do you think I feel, I spend my life trying to save people and I can’t convert my own son” This was shortly followed by “because you have heard the truth and refused to believe you are doubly condemned!” Tough fodder for a fifteen year old.

I only fully realized the relentless power of this concept when my mother told me when I was 41 that she and my father had decided that God had not intended them not to have children. At the time I thought it was more to do with a blasphemous exclamation I had unwittingly released in the car, “Jesus Christ I left the fucking water on,” than with heaven and hell. Only when she was dying 24 years later did I fully realize the pain my disbelief gave her because she believed I was headed for a literal eternal damnation. (Ironically to support her in dying peacefully I told her “I believed”.)

It was around this time it became clear to me that my atheism was primarily a rejection of my father’s God concept. This led me on a 25 year journey exploring spirituality, psychology, belief and faith. I explored the different faith traditions, discovered the power of working with intention, briefly accepted a more positive concept of a loving, kinder, mother/father God, and for 25 years I believed I was a spiritual being having a human experience, I believed I had an immortal Soul and for a time accepted reincarnation and life after death. Then the truly terrifying happened, I read Yuval Harari’s book Sapiens and lost my faith/belief. I realized that none of these concepts had resonance any more. My 25-year study that had incorporated numerous courses, classes, seminars and even a stint at theological seminary had left me only with confusion. To quote eminent Jungian analyst James Hollis, “the energy had left the symbol leaving only a dry husk”.

I felt bereft yet had a sense that something remained that prevented me from simply slipping into atheism and perhaps despair. First there remained my sense of an inner guidance system that can direct my life positively when I set intention and pay attention. Second my belief in an unconscious aspect of my being that can only be accessed through dreams, reactions and feelings. Third the continuing desire to seek meaning in my life regardless of a God or whether I had an immortal soul. In fact this one life seemed more precious. Finally a deep sense that there was something rather than nothing. The words of the psychologist and spiritual teacher Jean Houston resonated deeply, “you are more than you think you are and something in you knows it.”

Over 25 years I had collected significant personal evidence that there may be something rather than nothing:

A psychic love affair when I had a communication with another person over time and space.

Numerous synchronicities that defied scientific principles yet had happened.

Fascinating evidence from studies of near death experience that defied my logical process.

Individual examples of reincarnation that seemed undeniable.

Personal moments of awe, wonder and the numinous.

Strange examples of the power of deeply held belief/faith to influence individual events.

The uncanny sense of my life having a direction that I do not always consciously control.

This fascinating combination of uncertainty and mystery that cannot be empirically proved, at least not yet, feeds me at a deep level. My curiosity to explore my relationship with this mystery, my interest in unravelling my own psychology combined with my desire to access my own deeper levels of intuitive wisdom continued to give my life meaning. This brings me far more joy and satisfaction than refusing to go where science cannot lead. Atheism although absolutely legitimate from the view of science seems such a dead end. I accept I could be absolutely wrong about everything but the joy I have gained from the journey can never be dismissed.

In his book “Tracking The Gods – the place of myth in modern life”, James Hollis asks, “what would have happened to allow you to die with integrity and a sense of completion?” In reply he suggests that to feel a linkage to a larger order of meaning, some connection with the mystery that courses through history and animates the human soul is required. I wonder if atheists can relate to that?

Explore The Magical. Marvelous, Mysterious World of Dreams

My Amazing Dream

This is a one-day workshop to explore dreams. Learning to work with dreams can prove to be a source of guidance, inspiration and insight. Not all dreams are created equal. This workshop will help you discern the different types of dreams, identify the dreams that are most significant and provide tools and a process to explore their meaning. Only the dreamer can truly know the meaning of their dreams and a dream unexplored is like a letter not opened. (The Talmud)

Workshop Outline

* Learning to differentiate types of dreams and discern which are likely to be meaningful.

* How to facilitate remembering dreams and keeping track.

* To explore the principles of dream analysis and how to tend a dream.

* Exploration of the relationship between the imagination and dreams and how symbols are created in    dreams

* Introduction to dream partnering.

* Looking at the dream in the context of your life.

* An exploration of energy, feelings and consciousness in dreams.

* Learning to understand archetypes and their influence on dreams.

* To understand why we should not interpret other people’s dreams.

Location and Timing

Vancouver Sunday September 17th 2023, 10;00 am to 4:00 pm

Fee by donation

What Others Have Said

“Thank you again for the incredible dream partnering! Wow! So amazing! I think yourwork with dreams would really help people to change how they view dreams and hopefully help them to build a more conscious connection with their soul!” Nancy Monson

“I found the sessions I was able to attend to be simply excellent. I loved the opening meditations, your flow in bringing the content into application, and your style in honoring of individual input. Thank you for showing us a craft that you have obviously invested time and energy in mastering.” Joyce Gwilliam

Trevor Simpson is a Spiritual Coach lives in Vancouver, Canada, author of Life’s Little Book for Big Decisions and has worked with dreams since 1998. He has had a dream partner since 2002 and developed a Dream Partnering process to support others interested in dream interpretation. (www.soulclarity.com)