Posts Tagged ‘consciousness’

What is the universe?  It seems like I’ve been asking this question for just about as long as I’ve been looking up at the night sky.  Standing under the jewel-like starry nights, profound questions such as these seem to naturally arise, and I think in part it was these kinds of questions that led me as a child to want to become a professional astronomer.  As I’ve taught astronomy to students of all ages over the past twenty years, I’ve found that I’m not alone in asking these kinds of questions.  Nearly everyone I’ve ever spoken to about the universe has thought along similar lines: “What is all this?  Where do I fit in the big picture?  Who am I?”  Even in the midst of our modern lives and busy schedules, these kinds of questions have a way of slipping through the cracks of our everyday consciousness during our quietest moments. Our curiosity about ourselves and our place in the universe is very natural, and our ability to ask these kinds of questions and wonder about them is part of what makes us human.

A few years ago, it occurred to me that if I were asking these kinds of questions about the universe, then perhaps others might be as well, and so I made of list of all the people I would to approach for their views on the universe.  As I began conversing and having profound and transformative discussions with them, I noticed something very peculiar happening to me.  Bit by bit, so much of what had seemed so certain to me about the universe began slipping away.  The universe, it was turning out, was much, much more mysterious than I had initially thought, and it was leaving me with quite a conundrum.  Here I was, supposedly an expert on the universe as a professional astronomer, and yet after I began asking these kinds of questions, I found myself less and less able to say exactly what the universe actually is!

For example, modern physics holds that the entire universe (including ourselves) is made up exclusively of energy and matter, interacting in various ways to create the world we live in.  Yet in talking with various spiritual practitioners and indigenous elders about the universe, it seemed that very important nonphysical and yet undeniably real aspects of the cosmos were missing from our modern scientific view of it.  So it became increasingly clear that the universe is not just matter and energy but also has a profound spiritual dimension to it as well.  And yet this spiritual dimension is not separate from the material world we interact with on a daily basis.  The two are inextricably intertwined: matter and spirit, spirit and matter. We need both, because we live in a world that is both of these and so much more.

One of the results of asking these kinds of questions and interviewing people from all different fields and walks of life about the universe was my new book Cosmic Conversations www.cosmicconversations.org.  The other result was an appreciation that the universe is not only more complex than we think, but much more mysterious as well. How can the cosmos be matter, mind, energy, spirit, consciousness, love, truth, and all the other qualities we’ve discovered through our sciences, spiritual traditions, and personal lives?  To answer big cosmic questions such as these in a meaningful way, we need to ask more than a few experts and professionals – we need to start asking these questions ourselves.  “What is the universe for me?” is one of the most meaningful explorations we can have, because it begins to tie together our physical, moral, spiritual, outer, and inner lives together into one coherent whole.  Asking these kinds of questions of ourselves and those around us is one of the ways we make meaning of our world, how we find our place in the cosmos, our larger purpose, our higher values, and the truth of our deeper nature.

After a while, asking these kinds of ‘cosmic questions’ not only bring us clarity about what we believe about ourselves and the world, they also begin to slowly unravel what we previously thought we knew about who (and what) we thought we were.  This unraveling can be delicious, because as we begin to wrestle with the truth, untangling the myriad of knots that we find in ourselves, we begin to find that we are much more than we ever thought we were, and much more than we ever thought we could be.  We find ourselves drawn ever deeper into the mysteries of life, deeper into the mysteries of our inner depths, deeper into the starry cosmos, for at the mysterious center of things, we finally come home to discover that all these are one.

About Stephan Martin….

Stephan Martin, M.S., is an astronomer, educator, and writer who has taught astronomy and physics at colleges and educational centers across the U.S. for over twenty years. Currently Assistant Professor of Astronomy at Bristol Community College in southeastern Massachusetts, he is active in exploring and promoting interdisciplinary approaches to exploring the universe.  His current research and writing focuses on the transformative potential of the insights of modern science and their integration into personal experience and everyday life. He continues to lead innovative and learning programs in educational, holistic, and nontraditional learning settings that explore the innovative results of modern cosmology with the insights and practices of the world’s spiritual and indigenous traditions. He frequently lectures and gives presentations on astronomy and the wonders of the night sky at observatories, planetariums, and other popular venues, and has published a wide variety of articles on a multitude of topics that range from technical scientific research to academic papers in philosophy and humanities to popular-level articles on science education and everyday spirituality.  His new book, Cosmic Conversations, is a collection of interviews with scientists, spiritual teachers, indigenous elders, and cultural creatives on the topic of “What is the Universe?” His website is: www.cosmicconversations.org.

As a parent, you may not realize that your child possesses many of the answers to life’s challenges—right in her own imagination. Through learning and practicing visualization, kids can develop emotional self-care skills to help themselves with a variety of everyday, practical concerns.

These imagination tools can help your child:

• Love, accept, and appreciate himself.
• Reduce pain and heal other physical ailments.
• Overcome fears, such as fear of the unknown, abandonment, doctors, disasters, and dying.
• Deal with bedtime issues such as insomnia and bedwetting.
• Cope with death, divorce, and other losses.
• Handle anger, hurt, and frustration.
• Achieve success at school and in sports.
• Live peacefully with siblings and parents.

Here are nine imagination tools you can teach a child to help her deal with stressful times
and navigate the challenges of growing up.

TOOL #1: Use the Balloon Breath.

With her hands around her navel, have her breathe slowly and deeply into her lower belly so it presses into her hands like an inflating balloon. The balloon breath has calming effects and facilitates a waking state of focused concentration and receptivity to positive suggestions. Kids can use it to calm down before musical performances, soothe anger or hurt feelings, or wind down at night, for example.

Tool # 2: Discover A Special Place.

This is a safe, special place within your child’s inner world where he can relax, regroup, or take mini-vacations from the stresses of life. It’s a place to pose endless questions about life issues, and create numerous positive, possible solutions. Your child might visit his special place to find courage before taking a difficult test at school, or to get away from a bully’s harsh words.

Tool # 3: Consult an Animal Guide.

This is an imaginary guide—a kind, loving, and protective creature—that helps children tap into their wisdom. It’s often safer and easier for animal friends to offer solutions to problems in creative ways, than expecting logic and linear thinking to do the work. Your child’s animal guide can help her fall asleep, or practice patience at school in long, boring classes, or be brave before a trip to the doctor.

Tool # 4: Conjure up a Personal Wizard.

Wizards come into play when animal friends “just won’t do.” His Personal Wizard is a mentor and magical teacher in human form who brings a different level of wisdom: human but extraordinary. A wizard can give advice, conjure up special powers such as math answers, and even cure troubling feelings like jealousy, anger, and grief.

Tool # 5: Receive Gifts.

Gifts from imaginary helpers can be thoughts, objects, or ideas that symbolically provide children with exactly what she needs in the moment to help her. Gifts can be obvious or require further explanation by the animal friend or wizard. Sometimes gifts are hidden and need to be unwrapped or dug up. When a child goes to her special place and asks a wizard or animal friend for a gift containing the solution to her problem, she often finds the answer.

Tool # 6: Check in with Heart and Belly.

This tool is comparable to suggestions of “listen to your heart” and “pay attention to your gut feelings.” Children are encouraged to take a few minutes to “check in” with their heart and their belly, and to notice what messages are there for them. The heart and belly often have two different, but equally important, messages to relate.

Tool # 7: Talking to Toes and Other Body Parts.

The body is a repository for lots of hidden information. With this tool, children discover where and how they stash different feelings in their body. Kids then find they can have a dialogue between emotions and/or symptoms to find answers to their concerns. For example, your child might discover that his stomach knows exactly why it hurts every day 30 minutes before school starts—it doesn’t want Mom to leave, and it’s afraid she won’t come back.

Tool # 8: Use Color for Healing.

Color is especially helpful in healing pain. Feelings and symptoms often have different colors associated with them. They can be unique to each individual and change over time. You can teach children how to imagine a color, such as ice blue or deep forest green, cooling down his hot fever. When a child imagines color inside or surrounding her body, it can be a remarkable tool for transforming pain, shifting emotions, and accessing healing energy.

TOOL #9: Tap into Energy.

When words are insufficient, a loving touch from a parent can do wonders to restore calm and well-being. For example, you can help a child “pull the pain” out of his head by holding your hand about three inches from his forehead to give him a direction in which to send his pain—out and away.

You’re now armed with nine simple, efficient, and totally free options to mix and match—depending on the situation and your child’s favorite. When we teach our kids effective imagery techniques to solve their own problems, it can transform their world.

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More about Charlotte Reznick…

Charlotte Reznick, Ph.D is a child educational psychologist, an associate clinical professor of psychology at UCLA, and author of a new book, The Power of Your Child’s Imagination: How to Transform Stress and Anxiety into Joy and Success (Perigee, 2009, $14.95). More information at: www.ImageryForKids.com

Since the first cave paintings, we humans have found creative ways to express ourselves with art. We naturally draw, paint, and doodle to capture thoughts and feelings. Art has also been used throughout history for healing. Studies show that it creates brain wave patterns that enhance the autonomic nervous system, hormonal balance, and brain neurotransmitters. While doing artistic expressive art, the body’s physiology shifts from stressed to serene.

It’s often easier for a child to talk about pictures than about himself or his feelings (grief, anger, shame, etc.). Drawing will allow your child to express difficult feelings or to disclose what he might not share verbally. Your child’s artistic expression will give you a clearer sense of his inner struggle, an insight that will help you guide him.

Drawing also increases your child’s awareness of his inner world and creates a window onto that landscape. In addition, a child’s artwork can be a launching point for conversations that reveal her thinking about the world around her.

You don’t have to be a trained therapist to use some art therapeutic techniques with your child. Just stock up on a variety of supplies—giant rolls of paper, colored paper, crayons, and a variety of markers, including scented, metallic, fat, thin, even markers that change color as they write over another color. Then try the following art exercises to explore new ways to communicate with your child.

Draw a self-portrait. On a large sheet of paper, trace your young child’s body. Have her fill it in. Older children can design and complete their own. Drawing increases your child’s awareness of her inner world, and it’s easier to talk about a drawing than to express troubling feelings.

Picture the future. Artwork is also an effective starting point when you’re working with clear end-goals, like getting a good night’s sleep or reducing a fear. Have your child draw two drawings—how things are now and how he’d like them to be. Kids often hang these pictures in their bedrooms to remind them of their desired direction.

Show and tell. After an imaginary journey, such as a walk through a special place she imagines with her eyes shut and tells you about, have your child draw her experience. The picture gives you both something to look at and discuss. If the drawing illustrates a problem—say, a dangerous goblin or a fire at home—ask her what might solve the situation. She can even draw the solution right onto her picture.

Accept every drawing. Some kids have a tough time committing their mental pictures to paper; they fear they won’t measure up. Reassure your child that anything he creates is fine. Sometimes all that comes are strokes of bold color evolving out of a wonderful or terrible feeling that is finally set free on paper. Praise each one. They are the artifacts of your child’s inner world.

Talk to the image. Once your child has spilled his feelings on paper, he can converse with them. He might use his picture of Fear to ask what it needs to calm down, or to tell it to leave. It’s much easier to speak to feelings when they’re outside than when they’re gnawing away at his tummy.

Take artistic action. It’s a great release when a child can draw her angry, hurt, or upset feelings, but pictures don’t have to be static. She can erase part of it, or draw over it in “healing” colors with a changeable marker—an immediate transformation that feels magical. She can even rip up or throw away the paper. These actions can offer a hurting child a sense of control and satisfaction.

Capture the memory. The special places your child visits on her imaginary journeys are personal healing sanctuaries. Hanging pictures of them somewhere private but visible will remind her that she can return whenever the need arises. Drawings of trusted animal friends and wizards can help her remember support is always near.

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More about Charlotte Reznick…

Charlotte Reznick is a child educational psychologist, an associate clinical professor of psychology at UCLA, and author of a new book, The Power of Your Child’s Imagination: How to Transform Stress and Anxiety into Joy and Success (Perigee, 2009, $14.95). More information at: www.ImageryForKids.com

What is Consciousness? I spoke recently with friend Eva Herr about this very question. In her experience as a radio host and author, she has asked more than fifty learned people to respond, scholars in the study of the mind and consciousness. She said that she received fifty different answers. But I have a short and concise answer that she just may not have heard uttered. I want to share this with you.

Today, as I cut the grass on a beautiful and warm Hawaiian day, I didn’t think of consciousness as I steered the riding mower around the couple of lawn acres, not thought of it at all until I had to trim along the fences with a self propelled hand mower which, on the uphill grades, is not always effortless. Then it hit me: To have two gas-powered machines, let alone the fact that one can be mounted like a horse and has a drink receptacle, was truly a gift. I could have had to push some old-fashioned reel mower which would have required days of effort and may have stressed my heart. Well, it came soon on the heels of that thought that just to be able to ponder such a question is another gift, just as is my stopping to view the beautiful fluffy white clouds in an azure Hawaiian sky. So, what is consciousness?

My friend Robert Bruce, author of Astral Dynamics, asked me a dozen years ago if I could fashion an appendix for his book. He wanted me, as a brain surgeon, to describe the location of consciousness and the seat of the soul. I did this for him, taking time to study the work of great scholars.

There were many guesses as to the location of consciousness, but none seemed to be correct. According to Gerald M. Edelman, “Consciousness is neither a thing nor a simple property.” Edelman has asserted that a fundamental property of consciousness is that it cannot be broken down into independent components. That is to say, consciousness is integrated within the brain, and involves many widely separated areas.

I began my study with the work of the famous neurosurgeon Dr. Wilder Penfield (Montreal Neurological Institute), who found that vast areas of the cerebral cortex can be removed without affecting consciousness. However, small areas of the brainstem, when destroyed, will seriously affect or abolish consciousness. Brain stimulation cases show that found that the “mind,” not the brain, watches and directs human cognition and function.

Thanks to Robert’s request for my opinion, I came across something that allowed me to finish my book, Medicine, Miracles and Manifestations as it seems to prove that we incarnate on Earth to follow a carefully crafted plan. That critical piece of information is the Bereitschaftspotential and as demonstrated by the work of Dr. Benjamin Libet, (University of California, San Francisco). Libet described it as a “readiness potential” that can be picked up by EEG electrodes (a la Libet) or in modern times, functional MRI studies. It is a brain signal that precedes a consciously-made motor movement by roughly 350 milliseconds and it indicates that what we seemingly do of our own volition is actually initiated in the subconscious mind. Although we feel we have made a conscious decision to do perform an act, it is not so.

I investigated the work of many other luminaries in the field and was left with the thought that can be best described by the following quotation:

On the surface of things, nothing appears as it is.

And yet, everything that appears unreal,

is more real than the surface of things appears to be.

Now, after having a few years to reflect on consciousness, to study the work of others and to listen to their learned discourses, I have reached a concise description of what consciousness is. Perhaps in a few years my thoughts will change, but for now, I will say this:

“Consciousness is a gift.  Consciousness is a miracle”.

Dr. John L. Turner was a guest on The Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show Listen to his interview here: http://exploreyourspirit.com/Media/shows8.shtml#TURNERMEDICINE

More About Dr. John L. Turner:
After graduating from the Ohio State University with a degree in engineering physics, Dr. Turner continued in graduate school at the Ohio State University, Department of Physics. Three years into the PhD program, he was given a book about Edgar Cayce, The Sleeping Prophet. This changed the course of his life! He was excited about the existence of a spiritual world and made immediate plans to attend the Ohio State University’s College of Medicine where he earned his M.D. He completed his internship year in general surgery and his first year neurosurgical residency at Ohio State University. He completed the remaining four years of neurosurgical training at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. For eighteen years, he served as the sole neurosurgeon on the island of Hawai’i, initially performing lifesaving procedures with a marginally trained staff and substandard equipment. By all measures, John L. Turner is a surgeon with classic western medical credentials. From his first day on call in Hilo, Hawai’i, metaphysical events appeared for his edification and continue to the present day.

Medicine, Miracles, and Manifestations, is the twenty-year story of Dr. Turner’s contributions to the field of neurosurgery through Integral Medicine. The concept of Integral Medicine has been written about by notable members of the medical community, including Andrew Weil, Larry Dossey, Deepak Chopra, Mehmet Oz and Dean Ornish. Each of these writers is a physician who specializes in internal medicine or surgery. What makes John Turner similar to these writers is that he, too, is a physician. What makes him different from these writers is that he is a neurosurgeon. In fact, he is the only brain surgeon to write of medicine from this perspective: hand’s on use of complementary techniques prior to, during and after surgery, and exploration of pathways that lead to the spiritual world. The tools of the surgeon normally have more immediate, measurable results on patients’ health and well-being. With the opportunity to study and operate on the brain, Dr. Turner was in a perfect position to explore the mind-body connection. Medicine, Miracles, and Manifestations reveals how metaphysical events such as remote viewing, telepathy, consciousness and life-after-death are verifiable manifestations of the manner in which the human brain interfaces with the universal consciousness that author Lynne McTaggart refers to as The Field. More info at: www.johnlturner.com

What if the true nature of reality was a lot like an onion, made up of layers upon layers of different levels of reality that, when peeled back, exposed a creative, self-regenerating, web-like core? An infrastructure that contains the whole of all that is, was and ever will be. A source from which everything is interconnected within a grid-like framework.

As modern theoretical physicists search for a unified “Theory of Everything” that will condense the four fundamental forces of nature into one mathematically sound truth, those who dare to explore the paranormal have also begun to search for a cohesive theory which may assist in explaining the vast unknown. How do such things UFOs, ghosts, poltergeists, cryptids, mysterious energy vortices, remote viewing, psi abilities, clairvoyance, mind over matter, teleportation, and many other unexplained phenomenon happen? Where do they come from? What is the mechanism that triggers their manifestation within our simple, three-dimensional reality?

With new discoveries in the cutting edge sciences of quantum theory, brain research, and consciousness studies, that “paranormal theory of everything” may be much closer than we think. And, more exciting, that same theory may also be the veritable Holy Grail sought by physicists and scientists in their attempts to understand how the universe works… not to mention, how we as human beings work.  Behind all the excitement is what the authors of this article call “The R Word.”

Resonance.

Vibration. Frequency. “Jiggle.” Resonance is, according to answers.com  “a matter of one object or force getting in tune with another object. One literal example of this involves shattering a wine glass by hitting a musical note that is on the same frequency as the natural frequency of the glass. Though people seldom witness it directly, the entire world is in a state of motion, and where solid objects are concerned, this motion is manifested as vibration. When the vibrations produced by one object come into alignment with those of another, this is called resonance. Resonance helps to explain all manner of familiar events, from the feedback produced by an electric guitar to the cooking of food in a microwave oven.”

Increasingly, more and more scientists, as well as paranormal researchers, are looking to resonance as a comprehensive model that may bridge the gaps between science and the supernatural, the normal and the paranormal, and perhaps go one step further to explain every facet of reality in between. This theory may indeed center on the vibratory nature of matter as it relates to both the natural and “unnatural” worlds, as well as on harmonics and sound.

Resonance and sound are such important concepts that they have even been linked to nearly every manner of mysterious phenomena reported the world over, including ghosts, UFOs, and energy vortices. Even such hallowed sites as sacred temples, edifices and monuments such as the Pyramid at Giza are not immune! In fact, some believe that the Great Pyramid may have been designed to act as a giant resonating structure attuned to the vibrational frequency of the Earth itself.

But if resonance is the basis for the Theory of Everything, or at least the best theory we have to explain much of what we consider to be “anomalous” or “paranormal,” then how does it work?  As scientists are discovering, the brain appears to act more as a receiver for information, with consciousness choosing what information will be perceived and shaped into reality. What the “mind” resonates with often becomes our reality. This is the foundation for the popular interest in the Law of Attraction as “the secret” to achieving one’s dreams and goals. Yet the brain may also work in tandem with consciousness to perceive a specific frequency, that found in the infrasonic range, to “see” a ghost or sense a presence in the room, evidenced by the research of Vic Tandy, Michael Persinger and others who used sound and frequency as a means to facilitate paranormal “spookiness.”

Research conducted over the last decade has shown irrefutable evidence that the nature of consciousness is associated with the degree of consciousness present and the number of neurons in the brain actively assembled in a synchronized state. This state generally lasts only for a few milliseconds, and then the neurons re-assemble, allowing for a continuously variable state of consciousness. Is it then possible that paranormal phenomena is observed when the brain is experiencing a specific momentary assembly of large numbers of neurons at just the right time to create an altered state of perception?

According to Giulio Tonon, Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, in a November 2004 article in the BMC Neuroscience Journal “Consciousness poses two main problems. The first issue is understanding the conditions that determine to what extent a system has conscious experience. For instance, why is our consciousness generated by certain parts of our brain, such as the thalamocortical system, and not by other parts, such as the cerebellum? And why are we conscious during wakefulness and much less so during dreamless sleep? The second problem involves the understanding of the exact conditions that determine what kind of consciousness a system has. For example, why do specific parts of the brain contribute specific qualities to our conscious experience, such as vision and audition?”

Perhaps, as physicist Amit Gotswami suggests, consciousness is the ground of all being. “When we act in the world we really are acting with causal power. This view does not deny that matter also has causal potency — it does not deny that there is causal power from elementary particles upward, so there is upward causation — but in addition it insists that there is also downward causation. It shows up in our creativity and acts of free will, or when we make moral decisions. In those occasions we are actually witnessing downward causation by consciousness.” The link becomes the vibratory synchronization of consciousness with action, to create, as the Secret tells us, that which we wish to physically manifest. Yet our consciousness needs something to tap into to create these resonant frequencies, and that is where the Grid comes into play.

The concept of the Zero Point Field as a sort of grand, ground universal state of energy has swept the scientific community, but we authors propose that this grand, ground state acts more like a grid, with layers upon layers of levels of reality that can be accessed only when resonance is applied. And the vehicle with which we can move about the Grid is our consciousness. This suggests, as well, that other “beings” or life forms are moving about the Grid, too, and could explain the entire gamut of paranormal phenomena, from aliens to apparitions, as well as psi abilities like remote viewing, ESP and precognition. Within the Grid, there is no linear time, and anyone able to tap into this field of information theoretically should be able to access the past and future.

Reality is all encompassing, and yet, remains veiled – seemingly always out of grasp of our full comprehension. One thing remains constant, however: the connection between resonance and “everything.” If we ourselves are resonance in human form, it behooves us to find what we feel in tune with, and avoid what causes us a sense of disharmony and disorder. Perhaps, the entire Universe operates this way…always seeking out that which it is aligned with to create new matter, new energy, new life.

Does that resonate?

Marie D. Jones and Larry Flaxman will be on The Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show in early 2010 . Check back for the official show date coming soon.

More About Marie D. Jones and Larry Flaxman…
Marie D. Jones and Larry Flaxman are the authors of “The Resonance Key: Exploring the Links Between Vibration, Consciousness and the Zero Point Grid,” and “11:11 – The Time Prompt Phenomenon: The Meaning Behind Mysterious Signs, Sequences and Synchronicities.” More info at: http://mariedjones.com

On tonight’s show, my guest is Annamaria Hemingway and we’re discussing her book, Practicing Conscious Living and Dying: Stories of the Eternal Continuum of Consciousness.

Annamaria’s book shares real life stories, showing death as an integral part of life, with personal accounts of near-death experiences and after-death communication.  Over the years, I’ve spoken with many people who have had near death experiences. I’ve also communicated with people in spirit from the other planes. In the courses that I offer as a teacher of esoteric teachings, one semester of study is dedicated to what is often referred to as the Death Series, where students learn how the soul prepares to leave this plane over a period of time. When one does not fear this process, it allows one to open up to the journey with more awareness and consciousness.

Birth, Death, Rebirth, it’s the Cycle of Life. Join us here in the interview as AnnaMaria and I discuss Conscious Living and Dying.  http://www.exploreyourspirit.com/Media/shows3.shtml#HEMINGWAY

Since the seventies, past life regression has been widely practiced and many books – some  impressive and well-documented – have been published on this subject.  It is therefore  surprising that dreams were not examined for past life residues as well.  After all,  it stands to reason that if past life memories can be accessed under hypnosis and in altered states of consciousness, they have to be present also in our dreams. Several  factors must have contributed to sustaining this blind spot in our field of vision. Dream researchers must have avoided the subject out of fear of professional ridicule. Jungians must have felt threatened by the idea that past life selves might be entitled  to some of the space in the unconscious that had previously been occupied by the archetypes . And for the average dream worker  it would have been perfectly normal to stay within the “neuro-net” of traditional  methods of interpreting dreams.

What shook me out of my “neuro-net” twenty-nine years ago was  a dream that was “different”. Before I had this dream,  I had never given reincarnation any thought.  But during five years of a Jungian analysis in London, I had come to know my dream-world  like the back of my hand.  And this particular dream  was not part of the dream-world I knew.  It seemed to belong to another  identity,  another country, and another time. Moreover,  it was completely devoid of symbolism, which  – as we know – is the alpha and omega  of the dream language.

In this dream,  I am a man; I am standing with my back against a barn-door in a medieval  European town  while an angry mob is pelting me with stones. I am terrified and in pain. To get away from my tormentors,  I say I have to urinate. They let me step inside the barn so that I can relieve myself in private.  I am still aware of taking my penis out of my pants. Then there is a blank. Next  I am being driven on an ox-cart through town,  surrounded by jeering crowds. A red-robed priest is taking me to the court of the Inquisition. I have collapsed on the waggon-floor, sobbing uncontrollably, while deeply ashamed of my lack of composure. For until the public mood had changed,  I had been a celebrity in this town.  While in this man’s body, I had been aware of his distinct personality, his sensitivity, and the complexity of his feelings. This disqualified him as an archetype, which, according to Jungian theory,  is a “type”, rather than a person. From that moment on I became convinced of the existence of reincarnation and was on the look-out for more past life dreams.

At the Jung Institute in Zurich where I started to train a year later,  I met two analysts who had dared to venture into this borderland of the psyche,  knowing full well that it was politically the wrong thing to do.  One, a Dutchman,  Erlo van Waveren,  had been a personal analysand of Jung who,  in the fifties,  had worked  with him on his past life dreams under the seal of secrecy.  In 1978 – seventeen years after his analyst’s death – van Waveren had finally plucked up his courage and published a book about his experiences entitled Journey to the Rebirth. The second rebel was Dr. Elisabeth Ruef, a highly respected senior training analyst at the Zurich Institute and the co-editor of Jung’s Collected Works. She gave a  public lecture series on past life dreams in the wake of van Waveren’s book publication. But while van Waveren – as a patron of the Jung Institute – got away with the heresy,  Elisabeth Ruef was later crucified for it by her colleagues. This taught me that it was not safe to discuss my past life dreams in analysis, and my process went underground. It was kept alive by its own dynamics, by information obtained from an exceptionally gifted past life reader, and by whatever  strange energies I osmotically absorbed while translating Jane Roberts’ book Seth Speaks into German. When this unconventional  part of my training was over, most of my important past lives were integrated;  in addition, I had learned to identify past life dreams and was ready to work with them therapeutically.  After my graduation from the Jung Institute in 1987 I went into private practice in Santa Fe without  ever  advertizing myself as a past life therapist. But those who needed to integrate their past lives through dreams found me anyway.  These people were drawn to this work not by curiosity – as is sometimes the case with those seeking past life regressions – but by an urgent inner necessity. Their process, which was  initiated and timed solely by their own unconscious, was  often painful and lengthy,  but almost always life-changing.
Five years ago, so much extraordinary past life material had accumulated in my files that I felt obligated to leave a record of it. Thus I embarked  on the daunting task of writing a book about it. Many things became clear to me only while I was organizing the dream material.  I discovered the “bloodlines of the soul” – the character traits and individual life themes that run like red threads through our incarnations.  I also observed the relentlessness with which we reap what we have sowed in previous incarnations. This moved  karmic responsibility into the foreground of my awareness.  The book never let me go,  even  in my sleep.  Information filtered down  in my  dreams like the “dew of heaven” of the Kaballah. And when during the day I turned on the television,  I noticed that  “other lives” were creeping into the vernacular. This made me wonder if the archetype of reincarnation, which I was trying to capture in my writing, was beginning to stir in the collective unconscious, too. Still, I had been working in such isolation, that  I had no idea how my book  would be received  when it was finally published in April. A Jungian colleague had predicted that it would be ignored by other analysts. This had taken the wind out of my sails. Consequently, when I made a submission to this year’s IASD conference in Berkeley,  I expected it to be rejected by the dream researchers as well. And when it was accepted,  I still thought that nobody would show up for my presentation.  I was stunned when more and more people filed into the room to hear what I had to say about past life dreams. I was grateful, moved , and a bit overwhelmed  by the enthusiasm with the new information was received. However,  what really got my attention was an e-mail I received two weeks after the conference. It came from a stranger in Istanbul who identified  herself as an IASD member who had not been able to attend the conference. She said she was the leader of an internet dream group of 160 Turkish speaking members,  and lately past life dreams had been very much on their minds. She might even  have  had such dreams herself. Would I please send her a copy of my presentation?  She would read it very carefully.

Then I finally realized that I had been all along part of an international network of dreamers  who were becoming conscious of the past life phenomenon at the same time. What this growing awareness might mean and what effect it might have on human attitudes is difficult to assess at this early point.  It might be a sign that the Aquarian Age is finally dawning on us with a trail of new ideas and greater awareness.  It might also help the peace movement  in our troubled,  hate-and- fear driven world. For who would want to make war on the enemy “out there” knowing that you become what you hate and despise  in one of your next incarnations? And who can afford to look down on members of another race, creed and gender when the evidence for having been all those things ourselves can be found in our own dreams? This throws a new light on Bill Stimson’s inspired statement who founded the Dream Network  over twenty years ago: “To work with dreams in the deepest sense is to be a leader in the revolution of human consciousness.”  (Published in DreamNetwork, Vol. 24 No. 3, Fall 2005 & http://DreamNetwork.net)

Kala speaks with Sabine Lucas about her book Past Life Dreamwork: Healing the Soul through Understanding Karmic Patterns on The Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show. Interview coming in August 2009

More about Sabine Lucas….

Sabine Lucas was born and raised in Germany and educated exclusively in European countries. She holds a Ph.D. in German and English literature from Heidelberg University and a Diploma in Analytical Psychology from the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich. While living in England, she taught German language and literature at Reading University and worked for BBC London as a language consultant. Later, as a student in Switzerland, she supported herself by translating Jane Roberts’ books Seth Speaks and The Nature of Personal Reality and Jung’s English correspondence and lectures for the German Collected Works edition into German. Dr. Lucas pioneered dream groups and dream workshops in Switzerland and Austria in the seventies—a time when they were still a novelty. After moving to California in 1983, she worked part-time at the Mental Health Clinic in Mariposa, California, while training future mental health professionals at the California School for Professional Psychology in Fresno in dream analysis.

Since 1987, Sabine has been in private practice in Santa Fe, where she is licensed as a Professional Mental Health Counselor. Although her interest in past life dreams and the concomitant self-exploration goes back to 1976, it has been part of her clinical practice only for the last fifteen years. In the course of this time, she has been able to develop her own unique method of working with past life dreams and of integrating past life material in such a way that it enriches and empowers, while keeping the person balanced and grounded.Dr. Lucas is a member of the International Association for Analytical Psychology, of the Association of Graduate Analytical Psychologists of the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich, and a diplomate of the American Psychotherapy Association. More info at: www.pastlifedreams.com

Would you like to know how to consciously change the energy in your home,  just in time for the Spring Equinox?   Read my article in this month’s Kinetics Magazine on page 16 where I offer four steps to spring clean and charge your home with new energy!

Dannion and Kathryn Brinkley are the publishers of Kinetics Magazine. Their magazine is dedicated to creating a catalyst for Spiritual Sustainability.  Dannion and Kathryn have been guests of The Explore Your Spirit Show as featured here: Living Lightheartedly and Saved By the Light

Kinetic’s Magazine also featured my book, 9 Life Altering Lessons: Secrets of the Mystery Schools Unveiled as the Editor’s Choice for the March 2009 issue.