Rose Potluck Dinner, Session 266

July 05, 2008, 4:36 PM.
Castaic, California

Participants: Joanne, Paul, George, Sarah, Mike, Joyce, Ursula, Rumi the cat, and Eric (in Pennsylvania by phone).

This week it was only 100 degrees by session time , so we were delighted that our new air-conditioning system kept us cool! What was also cool, but in a different sense, was that our postman delivered a registered package earlier in the day from Kriston Laszlo in Budapest, Hungary. It contained two copies of Elixir magazine from last October and November. Inside were articles on the nine “families of consciousness” introduced by Seth, and greatly developed by Elias and now Rose. I was delighted to see them, even though I couldn’t read a word!

Kriston contacted me by email over a year ago and was very interested in metaphysics – particularly the notion of “families of consciousness.” I pointed him to various resources in the NewWorldView Library and Elias forum, and he asked many questions about the usefulness of the “families” concept. He was researching his articles, and they were accepted for publication in Elixir. Great job Kriston!

The three page article in the October issue was an introduction. The November issue had two side panels on the Milumet, so he is elaborating on each family one at a time. I mention this because it was the first time this very important concept, originally published in 1979 in The “Unknown” Reality, Vol. 2 by Jane Roberts, has gotten some international exposure. Though it’s almost thirty years old, it’s hardly well known in New Age, New Thought, or Integral circles, much less the mainstream in the West.

Moreover, it mirrors a recent trend in books, workshops, and programs based on “a purpose driven life.” For instance, the best-selling books by Dan Millman (The Life You Were Born to Live/1993), Rick Warren (The Purpose Driven Life/2002), Eckhart Tolle (A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose/2005), Jim White (What’s My Purpose?/2007), and many more in the self-help field. In this larger context, then, the “families’ metaphor” provides an imaginative way to explore purpose from the conscious creation perspective.

Now we all know there’s a shift – an unsurpassed acceleration of change, consciousness evolution, and widening awareness – in this new millennium. What is clearer to me is that Seth’s nine families provide a way to tell the story about our purpose in life, our raison d’etre, in a new way – one that brings Causal Consciousness back into purview. It incorporates many more elements than what sells in the self-help marketplace, and I’ve written extensively about that elsewhere. In that sense, they are like the amps in Spinal Tap that go up to eleven, they are obviously one better than all the rest!

But seriously, the bottom line is that when we follow our intent, we know our purpose, and that leads to a deep and meaningful life. This is opposed to the current mainstream modern worldview that says our universe was born in a Big Bang by accident, and therefore there is no purpose, no intent, no other meaning in life other than to fight the battle of the survival of the most adaptable species. The fact that cosmic dust clouds would end up writing symphonies is merely a random, chance, and utterly meaningless event. Enjoy it while it lasts, then you die, and it’s all over. So you might as well get as much as you can while you’re living because that’s your only shot.

Those beliefs result in the cynical, egocentric worldview that has led to many of the current social, political, economic, and spiritual issues we now face.

Now it’s no accident that Rose began our group session this past Saturday with a riff on discovering personal intent, and learning how to deeply connect with our purpose for being. She’s been using the nine families for months as a means to connect with essence (through our “belonging to”) and our selves (through our “aligning with”) to better understand why we chose to be born in this time, and truly “follow our way of spirit.”

Therefore, Rose equates our “way of spirit” with following our innate intent as expressed in the nine families’ metaphor. This is a key part of the foundation she has been laying for months and continues to build upon. The core idea is that when we “live a purpose driven life” we are better able to develop our abilities to their greatest potentials. While it’s always a choice to live whatever way we please, simply put: understanding our intent is foundational to learning to directly connect with essence, follow our bliss, and make the physical world a better place.

Next Rose queried the group to see if they did their homework. Did anyone do the “Discover your intent name” exercise? I laughed out loud because the participants didn’t know they had been assigned any homework! But it was just Rose’s way of getting peoples’ attention. Then she suggested that people check out the new practice on the website, and proceeded to go around the room one by one and make suggestions. It was an informative process, because it showed that getting a really apt “intent name” takes time and persistent self-reflection.

As such, the actual name will change as we get deeper and more closely in tune with our intent. For example, Eric was playing with the name “The Doer,” and Rose gently guided him to be more specific about what he would actually do. What would he actually choose and do? Would it be healing, based on his Tumold alignment, or teaching based on his Sumafi belonging to? Or some variation of both? And then, what name or description would most aptly fit those choices and actions?

We next took a short dinner break at 5:28 PM. as we had been snacking before and during the session. We ate pita bread and different kinds of hummus, smoked salmon with cream cheese on fresh bread, and a quinoa veggie dish. Dessert consisted of a chocolate strawberry pie in honor of Sarah’s 12^th birthday, and cheese-filled crumb coffee cake. We washed it all down with the usual assortment of wines, beers, and iced tea.

(I will also note that during the first half Rose used several of her new words, and we now have The Rose Glossary on the website so folks can better understand how she’s using them.)

We resumed around 6 PM. and Rose spoke for roughly another hour and ten minutes. She opened with another riff based on intent in which she challenged us to “tell the world what you’re here to do.” In other words, how we can best express our life’s intent, change ourselves, and in the process change the world for the better?

(Rose makes no qualms about there being “better or worse” in our physical world. She acknowledges that at the essence “layers” there is no good or evil, better or worse, just endless creativity, choice, and becoming. However, in very real terms, in our physical belief systems we very much hold beliefs about better and worse, and the sooner we understand what our preferences and opinions are, the sooner we will act in accord with our deepest intent.

(I was reminded of Elias saying repeatedly that the belief system of duplicity, which is one of the ten main belief systems, is not going away ever. In other words, we will always be dealing with belief and value systems permeated by better/worse dualities. So while our values of good and bad, right and wrong are indeed relative to our expressions in the physical world, they still ARE quite real. To deny them or to suggest there is no better or worse in absolute terms is itself an absolute! This is called the performative contradiction, a fancy word for hypocritical arguments that violate their own logic. So Rose is teaching us to discern what our purpose is, and what belief systems will help us live our most fulfilling lives – our way of spirit.)

Next, George asked a question about an interaction with a hawk fledgling where he rescued the floundering bird, and in the process had a profound sense of unity with the creature. Rose acknowledged that he had engaged an exchange with the hawk, and in a sense, saw himself through the hawk’s eyes with a love and compassion similar to how essence views us as physical expressions.

I asked if this was a “gift of Rose” in the way that Elias uses it, and Rose suggested that there was no extra manipulation on her part, and yet she does maintain an “energy fleck” in all birds that have ever been or ever will be.

George went on to talk about ”accidentally” running over a squirrel and earlier an rabbit, and Rose pointed out that when our hearts break over such events that’s when “you realize you are more than you currently understand.” That is, we begin to realize that the other is us, and we begin to empathically connect with other living things as us, as aspects of All-That-Is.

Rose said that we are gods-in-training, and that “God is love” in the sense that there is a profound fealing tone that permeates All-That-Is, and learning to identify that within ourselves leads us to be more compassionate, loving, and caring to our self, and then others.

Rose acknowledged our heart aches as well as our laughter. Both are important expressions in the physical world, and not something to be repressed. Also, there’s no need to fear that we make the animals suffer during these kinds of “accidents,” as both creature and person participate in agreement to the experience. In George’s case, the animals didn’t suffer and they passed into a nonphysical state different than what humans experience, because there is no need for an “action of transition” (that Seth and Elias have talked extensively about).

Animals are indeed “actors in our show” in supporting roles. They don’t co-create in the way that people and essence do, but are still “of essence.” This led me to ask about the differences between animals and focuses of essence. In the process I realized that while essence does indeed create the entire biosphere of life forms on our planet, including animals, those lifeforms are not as directly connected to essence that same way that humans are.

(Another way I understand this is that both animals, humans, bacteria, hydrogen molecules, and quantum fields are ALL “of Consciousness,” and as such it’s a reminder that even essence is not the ultimate expression of All-That-Is, that simple always already Consciousness is the common element. Seth used the CU or “consciousness unit” metaphor to express the same thing. Elias calls them links of consciousness, and Kris uses CUs. Rose hasn’t really gone into this area, only because no one has asked yet.

(To return to the ontological differences between humans as focuses of essence, and animals as having a different relationship, in the end they are all united within Consciousness as All-That-Is.)

Rose challenged us to “fearlessly” intuit (i.e., conceptualize) the answer to this riddle, and not get too hung up on the maps and metaphors we use to ballpark and try to explain things.

The session ended around 7:08 PM. and we said our “goodbyes” to Eric who was on a conference line from Pennsylvania helping us test out a phone connection for future group sessions. Thanks Eric!

We broke up into small groups as usual and continued talking about the session and related ideas. We even got a short game of Balderdash in before the last folks left just before 10 PM.

Finally, a reminder to all that we publish a free MP3 audio podcast on the Monday after each session, and you can find them on the Podcasts page on the Essence of Rose website. Here's a link to this week's Podcast: Rose, George, and the Fledgling Hawk. Enjoy!

Dinner & A Dead Guy Lives! (Rose Potluck Dinners)

Some of you will remember that Joanne and I kicked off our Dinner and A Dead Guy series in July, 2004 to help Serge, Mark, and Kris develop The Kris Chronicles website and what would turn into The International Sessions a year or so later. When I look back over the last four years, I can only think, “My we’ve all come a long way, baby!”

I really enjoyed that period of helping The Kris Chronicles to test its wings and begin to soar. We learned about the nine sisters, clans and clusters of consciousness, quadrants of consciousness, idea atmospheres, idea threads, soundlets, nodi, and much more. During this time, I began to write up a summary of the core concepts Kris introduced, while also providing some links to Seth, Elias, and Wilber’s integral ideas to show the connections between them all.

I managed to publish 47 reviews during a period that ended in January, 2007.[1] However, I was knee deep in my Integral Certificate program, so I wasn’t able to keep up on that front. Thankfully, John “Your Faithful Reporter” Hawkins took over and has done a wonderful job continuing to provide written summaries that we all find helpful!

In April, 2007 Rose introduced herself to Joanne on our Ouija Board, and changed our lives dramatically. We began to concentrate on what we now call The Teachings of Rose, and strapped ourselves in for yet another roller coaster ride.

In November, 2007 after Joanne’s Crone Ceremony we held our first official Rose group session in Chatsworth, California. Joanne enjoyed it so much that we decided to hold group sessions as soon as we could, but realized that we first had to organize the growing body of written, audio, and video material from our regular Rose sessions.

By February, 2008 we were able to hold our first Rose Potluck Dinner. We thought about calling it Dinner & A Dead Gal, but it didn’t feel right, and we wanted to honor our time spent with Serge, Mark, Kris, Ellen, and the many others who attended The International Kris Sessions.

So we left that title alone.

The Potluck Dinners were born out of the core elements of D&DG, namely sharing our home and hearth with our friends. The D&DG logo Joanne created said, “Eat, Drink, Think.” That kind of sums it all up, don’t you think? Sharing food and drink along with exploring conscious creation ideas is as good as it gets!

Joanne had explored her Seasons of the Soul book (still unpublished) during this period, so she always cooked up a feast. However, channeling Rose didn’t allow for her provide all the food, so the potluck idea seemed like a natural fit. Joanne and Gail Becker, two “Borledim queens,” always contribute a tasty dish, and folks magically bring an array of complementary dishes, deserts, and drinks to satisfy all. Now that the Rose website is up and running, I can continue to report on our sessions.

We’ve held seven Potluck Dinners to date, and Rose has talked between 1:15 and 2:30! So we’ve had several marathon sessions, but they all contribute to the growing conceptual foundation available on the website. The first two (Feb. and Mar.) have already been transcribed and published. We also publish a pithy Podcast excerpt the following Monday, so you can stay up to date. Eventually, all these group sessions will be made freely available on the website.

Session 260, June 21, 2008

Saturday was hot, hot, hot – the fifth day of 110+ degree heat, and our central air-conditioning unit began to give up its ghost! We thought briefly about canceling the session, but decided that it was just barely cool enough to proceed. Our neighbor, Gordon, brought over a fan, so we had three fans going in the living room when the session began around 4:45 PM. Ten folks and Rumi the Cat attended: Jo, Paul, Gail, Drew, Gordon, Caryn, George, Sarah, Shireen, and Boris.

Rose began with a riff on “the way of spirit” which is one of her central emerging themes. Essentially, when we are truly in tune with our intent and purpose in life, we find our way of spirit, which includes the very best expressions of our potentials, happiness, and fulfillment. The specifics don’t matter as they will be tailored to each of us, and we will each be different. But once we truly find our personal way of spirit, our lives blossom accordingly.

Next, Rose opened the floor to questions, and I asked a question about Rob Butts who had passed away on Memorial Day. I had wanted to ask it at the end of our last session, but since folks were really engaged on other topics I decided to wait. I’m glad I did, as Rose spoke for a half an hour about Rob, and as you’ll see, we had a couple guest appearances. (You can listen to the entire segment on the Podcasts page.)

There were five main things that stood out for me. First, Rob was instrumental in so many ways in getting the Seth books out that he could be considered a co-author (that’s my take, Rose didn’t say that literally). Also, Rob and Jane were pioneers, paving the way for the work many of us are involved in today with Elias, Kris, Rose, and many others.

Second, Rose allowed both Joseph (Rob’s entity) and Rob speak through Joanne. Now, we had previously witnessed evidence of mediumship with the Rose phenomenon in private sessions, so I mention this to new folks in the group, because we never know what Rose will say during a session. But this was the first time that JoRose allowed another essence tone through in a group setting.

I asked Rose about how this works, and she said that she serves as a kind of “traffic cop” or meditating force so that Joanne doesn’t get overwhelmed with various energies that seek to speak through her. And Joanne is happy to do so, as long as it is in helpfulness to others.

So Rose let the Joseph Aspect came through first, and he spoke from a much wider perspective about Rob, his life, and impact on the rest of us. For example, he mentioned that Rob was an excellent dreamer, and had used those skills to develop his painting abilities. It was very beautiful and moving.

Then Rob came through briefly and spoke about his feelings about the Seth phenomenon. I had a strong sense of the energetic shift from Rose to Joseph, and the shift to Rob was more subtle. But I kept visualizing him sitting right there on the couch between Joanne and Gail, in terms of his self-portrait that kept popping into my mind’s eye.

Keep in mind that Joanne doesn’t perform a Kevin Ryerson-type action, where she engages different voices and personalities. Her voice remains mostly the same, and Joanne is present to some degree, but there is a discernable change in fealing tone, and perspective shifts from we/us to I.

Third, during the previous delivery, I noticed a single tear fall from Jo’s left eye, and I wanted to know if that was Joanne, Rose, Joseph, or Rob’s tear? I suspected that it was Jo’s, and Rose confirmed it. She said that since they share Ilda intent (according to Elias, Joanne “belongs to” Ilda, and Rob aligned with Ilda), Jo had a great affinity for “Robert” as a friend and role model.

Fourth, I asked Rose about Rob’s entity name of Joseph and Serge Grandbois’, who channels Kris, essence name of Joseph. Were they the same essence tone? Rose confirmed that they were indeed two “very different” groups of essence tone (Kris is on the record saying the same thing).

Finally, I asked about the concept of “lineage mind” from the work of Ken Wilber in relation to Seth, Elias, Kris, Rose, and others who channel similar information, and Rose said that there is indeed a strong connection between them all, but that when translated into human form the politics of lineages may serve to lessen their effectiveness. I acknowledged that the notion of “lineage mind” in not anchored in Framework 1 terms, and Rose pointed out that it is nonlinear in that sense. So when we linearize “lineage mind” in physical terms, again, we may be lessening its potency due to human politics (i.e., selfishness, greed, power drives, etc.). But this is not a hard and fast rule, just something to be aware of as we go forward.

Since it was so hot, we broke early and had dinner around 5:20 PM. It consisted of fresh Polish sausage and smoked salmon with Russian dark rye bread, Gandolfo deli sandwiches, a homemade turkey meatloaf, apple salad, and potato chips. For desert we had chocolate éclairs and lemon meringue pie. We washed it all down with white wine and homemade red iced tea. It was too hot for coffee or tea.

During the break we watched The Seth Phenomena by Bob Terrio, who had just sent me a DVD version. It was great to see Rob talking about Jane and Seth, showing us pictures of the two of them that had never been published, and talking about some of his dreams and paintings. He also talked about Jane’s paintings, something many people don’t know about.

We reconvened around 6:30 PM. and Rose spoke for another 35 minutes, but it was hard to concentrate with the heat, whirring fans, and full bellies! Still, Rose talked about intent again, and asked those present to report back on the intent name exercise she had suggested several sessions earlier. Dead silence… Rose suggested that those interested check out the exercise, and report back later.

Rose moved onto other questions, and George asked about his friend’s essence families intents, orientation, and essence name. Rose responded with Sumari/Sumafi, soft, and “Scruffy McGee.” I put that in quotes because Rose had given that name to George after our last session as a response to a past life that he and daughter Sarah shared. Rose called his focus “Scruffy McGee” and hers “Tahiti Rose.” Clearly, these are not focus names, but one of Rose’s tests (that we are slowly getting used to!).

From what we can discern, Rose is pushing away, to some extent, from naming too many focuses (and famous focuses) to get us to concentrate on this lifetime, as it is easy to get caught up in “other focus” information to the point of neglecting our present situation. In other words, when we use it as an escape or distraction from dealing with problems in the now, even if other lives seems more enticing or exotic, we are abusing the purpose of the information. So this is Rose’s not so gentle way, in my opinion, of beginning to guide us beyond the “sage on the stage’s” pronouncement of too much other focus information.

As I said to George after the session, “When Elias, Rose, or anyone tells you that you have 411 focuses, how can you actually prove that it’s empirically true?” We can’t! So until we widen awareness enough to be able to verify or falsify these claims through our own direct experience, we need to take them with a healthy grain of salt, engage our inner skeptic and understand why this information is being given, presumably in helpfulness, at this time.

I come back to the fact that it’s meant to enhance our “way of spirit” in this lifetime, and help us develop our fullest potentials in the here and now. All the rest may be sexy and engaging, but it’s only metaphysical speculation until we can directly know it. So it seems that some of Rose’s tests are designed to make us discern beyond taking her pronouncements as literal fact, which they may well be! But, it’s important to fall back on our own experience and knowing to determine what is and isn’t useful.

Next, Rose asked us what impressions we had about a lifetime that all present shared. I humorously imagined that we were the “Scruffy McGee” Raiders of Ireland who farmed animals and vegetables together. Rose said this was good answer, as it was an honest impression on my part. J Rose then went into exploring how this other lifetime fealt, in other words, what kind of impressions did we get from imagining our selves during this time?

She pushed again, and pointed out that our lives on the “ragged shores of twelfth century Ireland” were as valuable as those in which we were kings or queens. But what did we feal when we got into trouble or did something that violated another? That is, what was our degree of empathy or identification with others? Since “they are all us” in larger terms, the extent that we can walk a mile in another’s shoes will determine our ability to empathically connect with them-as-us.

Rose was prodding us to begin to “see” and feal others as Aspects of Self to whatever degree we can. This ultimately leads to compassion for self and others as well, which in the long run reduces our suffering as well as that of others. Just trying makes a difference! We need to reach out in our own ways to relieve all suffering. So the focus information is an exercise to help us relate to others, whether they’re a Scruffy McGee, Tahiti Rose, King, or Queen of all kinds. “And when you realize this, that’s when you really learn the way of spirit. That’s when you really know how to be in your own skin, by reaching out to others, too.”

It’s a challenging topic for sure, and will develop further. Rose continued on related ideas, and the session ended somewhat abruptly around 7 PM. as the room temperature had risen to around 95 degrees! However, we broke into small groups and continued to snack and chat. The last folks left by 10:30 PM. A good time was had by all.

Here's a link to this week's free MP3 Podcast: Talking About Rob Butts.

P.S. We had a technician out to test our air-conditioning unit on Monday, and we determined that it was better to replace the entire HVAC unit, which is 27 years old and failing, than just upgrade an expensive compressor. While that’s going to cost some serious coin, the good news is that when we meet again on July 5^th, even if it’s 113 outside again, it will be nice and cool inside!

Endnotes

[1] Reviews 1-41 can be found in the NewWorldView Library as Dinner and a Dead Guy Reprise/Aspect Psychology. Reviews 42-47 can be found in this blog.

In Memoriam Robert F. Butts

June 20, 1919 – May 26, 2008

Joanne and I received the following email on Tuesday May 27^th:

Dear Folks,

As some of you may have heard, Robert F. Butts passed away just before 3 o’clock in the afternoon on Monday, May 26, 2008, with his wife Laurel Butts at his side, in St. Joseph’s Hospital, Elmira, New York, after a brief illness. He would have been 89 in June.

Up until a few weeks before his death, Rob was active and busy with his many projects, deeply involved as he was all his life with painting, writing, and directing the ongoing publication of the Seth material and the related lifework he co-created with his late wife Jane Roberts, who died in 1984. Laurel told me that Rob died peacefully, as she held him, and that she knows Jane was there also, as he made the transition from this reality to all that lies beyond.

Laurel has arranged an inclusive service for Rob as well as for Jane, scheduled for Monday, June 2nd, at 10 a.m. at St. Mary’s of the Lake Church, 5823 Wallworth-Ontario Road, in Ontario, New York, a small town just east of Rochester, N.Y. Other arrangements are pending.

I am grateful to Laurel for holding the phone to Rob’s ear a few hours before he died so I could talk with him one last time. As I’ve written elsewhere, he and Jane were not only my friends but something even more than mentors to me – they were my psychic parents, the pivotal figures in the development of my creative abilities in this life, and very likely in other lifetimes as well. My heart goes out to Laurel, who is in my thoughts every day.

Sue Watkins

We had gotten word that Rob was in the hospital the previous week, the same hospital that Jane spent her final days in Elmira, NY, and was being treated for cancer. Laurel had sent out word for well wishes to be sent there. So during our Saturday Rose group session, people signed a get well card. I was actually printing out a topic from Sethnet in which people expressed their get well wishes on Tuesday when we got the news that Rob had passed away from our friend Masa in Japan. (I later thought this to be appropriate imagery of how far and wide the scope of Rob and his life’s work reached.)

Initially we were stunned by the news, but then everything became clear. Many cancers are treated on an out-patient basis, and I realized that Rob had been more ill than we realized. So we want to join Sue Watkins in extending our heart-felt condolences to Laurel Butts. I’m glad to know that she was with Rob during his final hours, and sensed Jane’s presence as well. Laurel has been with Rob for over twenty years now, and has been instrumental in helping Rob with Jane’s legacy.

Speaking of which, where do we begin to honor the legacy of this man and his life’s work? Rob was instrumental in the Seth phenomenon. He transcribed every word in every Seth book between 1963 and 1984. He created hundreds of paintings based on his experiences with Seth and Jane. He archived all of Jane’s work after she died, and fulfilled his promise to her, with Laurel’s help, to publish all the Seth material after she died. He worked with Prentice Hall editor Tam Mossman to donate all of Jane’s work to Yale University’s Sterling Archives, where it remains one of the most popular archives visited yearly. Presumably, after Rob’s passing additional materials will finally make their way to that collection.

I was struck by Sue’s comment that she considered Rob and Jane her “psychic parents.” I felt the same way back in the late 1970s after I had discovered the Seth books. I couldn’t get enough, eagerly awaited each new book, and read them cover to cover several times. Since I had been raised in a secular family, my father was an electrical engineer and mother non-religious, I didn’t have much of a spiritual framework. So my first spiritual information was encountered during my teen years in the shamanic teachings of Don Juan as chronicled by Carlos Castañeda. But in my early twenties the Seth books blew all that away, because they provided a detailed map of All-That-Is, and further, provided exercises to check out the territory through direct experience.

Back to the psychic parents concept, I know that many people felt that way about Jane and Rob over the years. So I was delighted when I found Seth’s reference to this when The Way Toward Health was published posthumously. The following is from February 1, 1984.

(4:35. “Will you say something about the feelings I’ve had about par­enthood lately?”)

Let us take a break.

(“Okay.”

(Jane had ginger ale and a few puffs. “If you hadn’t asked, he was going to say something about your parenthood thing,” she said. We talked about how strange it was that no one had been in yet to take her blood pres­sure and pulse — not that it would have mattered if they weren’t taken. Resume at 4:40.)

Now: If you examine your feelings about parenthood in general, you will see that they bear an astonishing similarity to your feelings about your painting and our work. Only the focus is different. You are indeed both parents of an amazing body of work, and the psychic parents of innumerable people of all ages. You have set aside, however, the conventional idea of a family, as symbolized by your (car) dream of the other evening. You are actually exchanging one kind of a family for another, vaster concept, that also involves parenthood, however — but a psychic rather than a physical parent­hood. The letters you receive are often like letters children write to their parents. ~ p. 83.

Like many, I wrote to Rob and Jane over the years. While I never met Jane physically, she has been in my dreamscapes since the late 1970s. While Rob played a secondary role in terms of dreamscapes, in my heart, I still had strong paternal feelings for him and his work. In this way I considered them my “spiritual parents,” and Seth as what Eastern spiritual traditions consider a “root teacher.”

I had the pleasure of visiting the “Hill House” in Elmira, NY in 1991 and again in 1993 with my friend Bob Terrio when we made The Seth Phenomenon: An Interview with Robert F. Butts video. It remains one of the most thorough pieces ever recorded on Seth and Jane, with Rob describing his many paintings and sharing various stories about helping with the Seth books. This was also when we first met Laurel Davies.

I was awestruck during that first meeting! Rob was already in his early 70s, and the house was full of his paintings. I sat in a refurbished version of Jane’s Kennedy rocker and imagined what it must have felt like to be present during a private book as well as group ESP session. There was that famous painting of Seth. I saw Jane’s and Rob’s offices, his lined with various print editions of Seth and Jane’s books, along with the classic quote on the wall from Seth, “You get what you concentrate upon, there is no other main rule.” Laurel was a gracious hostess and made us feel at home as we went about setting up lights, cameras, and sound equipment for the shoot. Rob autographed my two aging hardback copies of The “Unknown” Reality, and they remain two of my most prized possessions to this day.

During this time Lynda Dahl and Stan Ulkowski has taken over Maude Cardwell’s Austin Seth Center, and created Seth Network International. Joanne and I would meet birds of a feather at our first conference in late October, 1996 at New Haven, CT. Stan and Lynda would go on to marshal the largest gathering of Seth-folk, over 420 if memory serves, at the now famous Elmira, NY SNI conference held in June 1997. The Seth books were back in print, thanks to Amber-Allen and Janet Mills, as well as Jane’s Aspect Psychology books. So it was a resurgent period. It’s also when we met Mary Ennis, who channels Elias, and moved to Castaic, CA to help that fledging group publish and expand the Elias forum, which in my view, expanded many core concepts in the Seth Material.

Returning to the present, we all have similar memories with the Seth books, Jane, Rob, and Laurel over the years. My memories are not special in that respect. I share them only to show the enormous respect I have for Rob and the deep appreciation for all his work over a period of forty-five years (1963-2008). The creative legacy of Rob Butts and Jane Roberts is truly a national and global treasure!

I hope that more information will become available as the years roll by, and their legacy will continue to grow. Their work was avant garde in the truest sense of the term, it was ahead of its time, and as such, remains mostly ignored and unappreciated by large segments of the current population, most of which have no clue about the tremendous influence they had on popular culture in the 1970s and onward. After all, The Nature of Personal Reality, their best seller, coined the New Age mantra “you create your own reality.” And authorship is not nearly attributed to the primary source often enough due to continued ignorance of the channeling phenomenon. Hell, even Oprah says she was “spooked” by the Seth books when interviewing to Ester Hicks a couple years ago! Ironically, I don’t think the infamous cover of Seth Speaks helped any. J

In larger terms, Rob’s passing marks the end of the beginning of a “shift in consciousness,” or what Seth referred to as a religious reformation that would center around the “Christ entity” to be completed by 2075. Many other authors and futurists imagine this shift in their own ways. For example, physicist Peter Russell called it an approaching singularity or white hole in time, social philosopher and psychologist Ken Wilber called it the centaur stage of development that features “vision-logic,” sociologist Jean Gebser called it the integral-aperspectival structure-stage of collective evolution, John White predicted the emergence of a new species of human called homo noeticus, Elias, channeled by Mary Ennis, coined the term “shift in consciousness” in 1995 which is now used by The Institute for Noetic Sciences, author Arjuna Ardagh called it The Translucent Revolution, futurist Ray Kurzweil envisioned an Age of Spiritual Machines, and on and on we go!

In any case, Seth, Jane, and Rob created their own vision of this shift and left a legacy for us all to explore. I can’t say thank-you or express my appreciation deeply enough for pointing out that the next 50-60 years will be a time of rapid change and global transformation beyond what our wildest science fiction could predict. It will be fun to see how the Seth Material stands the test of time, and what role it, along with Jane’s wonderful Aspect Psychology, will play in foreshadowing major trends and probabilities that the collective are exploring. Will any of us will live to see the following Seth quote become reality?

“This material will take its place in the conceptual and emotional life of Western civilization, and finally will make its way throughout the world. New ideas are not accepted easily. When they take fire however, they literally sweep through the universe.” ~ The Early Sessions, Book 2, p. 314.

It’s an exciting time to be alive, and in the spirit of Seth’s Practicing Idealist we are all encouraged and challenged to live, love, and laugh each day to its fullest. Thank you Rob for your creative genius, inspiration, and humble way of living Seth’s words in the life you lived.

I also want to send my condolences, again, to Laurel Davies-Butts, who was a second wife to Rob, and helped in too many ways to mention here. We also owe her a lot, and so I’d like to say a heart-felt “thanks” to you as well. We’ll await news of any memorials to Rob and ways to help support you in the days ahead. If we can do anything, please don’t hesitate to ask. In the mean time, we will carry on and do our best until it’s our time to move to that next chapter as well.

Thank you Rob for everything! We love you, and will miss your earthly presence.

Finally, as a tribute, here is a small gallery of some of Rob’s paintings that were on display during the 1997 and 1999 SNI conferences in Elmira, NY. They were shot by Rodney Davidson. Enjoy!

Here’s the portrait painted by Stephen Bennett at the 1997 Elmira, NY conference.

Rose Does Vegas

Well, not exactly, but this was the humorous theme I had in mind as Joanne and I drove to Las Vegas a week and a half ago for our yearly vacation. We had never jointly been to “Sin City,” though I had been there for a couple of days when I was four and my parents drove back from Ventura, CA to Elkins Park, PA. It’s only a four hour drive from our current home in Castaic, and since it was so close we figured this year that we should check it out at least once, though we sensed it might not really turn out to be our cup of tea. So Joanne booked our hotel and three different shows to see, and they formed the foundation of our week. We would see Blue Man Group, Monty Python’s Spamalot, and Cirque du Soleil’s O!

The drive was four hours of mostly high desert chaparral with several cities dotting the way, so most of our time was spent cruising through sparse mountain ranges and the Mojave Desert. As we approached the Nevada border, there was a little pop-up town consisting of two Casino/Resorts that were literally in the middle of nowhere. We wondered if someone’s driving to Las Vegas, why on earth they’d ever want to stop here? To save on gas perhaps? It was a truly odd spectacle, one that we drove past in a matter of minutes back into high desertscapes.

The final stretch of mountains released us into a valley. In the distance we could see the “Emerald City,” something that looked really big, but was, again, in the middle of nowhere. That is the truly odd thing about Las Vegas.

As we approached the little dots became bigger, and the skyscrapers grew in size, and we realized that Vegas is much bigger than it looks from a distance. We continued to drive for miles until our exit into the heart of the downtown Vegas strip.

The incongruent thought of “Rose Does Vegas” popped into my head once again. It seemed like such a disconnect! As we turned off the freeway into the bowels of the strip, we were overwhelmed by streets packed with cars, cabs, and ad-trucks pimping escort services. The sidewalks were teeming with people dressed in all sorts of garb. We weren’t exactly sure what the dress code would be, but the strip was littered with what looked more like an Atlantic City Boardwalk crowd. No offence to the East Coast or AC, but I was surprised to see so many t-shirts, shorts, sandals, and varying outfits.

It had been a long drive, we were tired, and traffic was jammed. We took our time looking at many of the forty-plus Casino/Resorts on the way to our destination at the Venetian. They were vast and took up many city blocks each. We saw the Great Pyramid, the Statue of Liberty, The Eiffel Tower, a Pink Flamingo, among other things all jammed into the strip. It created sensory overload for us as first time visitors.

We made our way into the parking garage at the Venetian. You have to walk through the Casino to get anywhere by design, so the path to check-in is littered with one-armed bandits, cigarette smoke, flashing lights, nervous people sitting and gambling amidst the throngs other folks walking around. As we made our way to the main lobby, we saw the Sistine Chapel painted overhead. Again, more overload.

We checked in, and collapsed in our room. Opened a bottle of champagne on ice, and feasted on snacks we brought with us.

As I kicked up my feet and began to finally relax, I was again struck by the thought “Rose Does Vegas” and how the basic vibe here was so materially oriented, seemingly a million miles away from what Rose stands for, which features an integration of the material, mental, and spiritual. And yet, something told me there was much to be explored before reaching any final conclusions.

As the week progressed we alternated between hanging out at one of the twelve pools and jacuzzis, seeing a show every other evening, dinning out, and for Jo, the necessary shopping excursions.

Though we were drawn to the slots, we didn’t spend a penny on them. In fact, we ended up “winning” a quarter because Jo found one on the floor of the Bellagio during one of our evening trips (only one show was at our Casino – Blue Man Group – so we had the chance to visit three other Casinos during the week).

I missed the sound of real coins going bing, bing, bing as they use to dance out of the slots and those coin filled cups used to hold your “winnings” from my days of Atlantic City gambling in the late 1970s. Everything was now electronic, and even though bound by Nevada law to pay equally for all, I just didn’t trust those machines. They were too easy to rig, and I knew they are programmed in favor of the house. I didn’t feel like trying my “luck” in that manner.

It seemed that most people I saw during the week at the slots sat like robots, smoking, drinking, staring, and pressing buttons over and over, some winning, but most losing to the house. I read a gambling paper in the Venetian Sports Book, the place with thirty giant monitors with horse races, and all sporting events televised, that said the poker machines were your best bet to bet the house if played properly. I filed that away for another day, and just watched part of a baseball game to while away an hour one afternoon while Jo was shopping. It was still fun to explore.

Still, we didn’t spend a lot of time in the Casinos as they’re noisy, smokey, and full of throngs of hopeful people whose next big win is one button push, winning hand, or roll of the dice away. We settled into a routine where, after a nice breakfast, we’d hang out at one of the pools for 4-5 hours, relax, swim, read, and even meditate. I brought my Holosync CD with me, something new that I’ve been testing for the past six weeks, and have been making solid progress with (more on that later). It was fabulous to be able to spend an hour each day, Monday through Friday, sitting at a pool in the shade and simply “turning on and tuning out.”

The Holosync CDs use “difference tones” – a phantom tone created by the brain/mind system when two slightly different tones are fed into separate ears– to induce altered states by sympathetically vibrating the brain. You begin in waking beta, and gradually “dive” through alpha (highly relaxed) to theta (dreaming, REM), and finally to delta (deep dreamless sleep). Now it’s way cool to be awake during this, and why this is possible is because our brain/mind systems function in all four frequencies at any given time. It’s just that certain when certain frequencies dominate we happen to be in waking, dreaming, or deep sleep state.

So it’s not like in waking beta, there’s no alpha, theta, or delta energies. It’s just that those signatures tend to have very low amplitudes (or energy levels). So the CD uses a pleasing combo of rain and gong sounds to occupy the “monkey mind” (random thoughts) while the low frequency difference tones force both hemispheres to entrain or resonate more deeply at alpha, then theta, and then delta. So it’s common to fall asleep during the first months of this practice, though the goal is to maintain awareness and concentration as you move through these states.

Now, back to the Venetian pools, it was great to set up camp on lounge chairs, often by water fountains that add some white noise to mask the constant monkey mind Musak they have playing just about everywhere. This current version of Vegas is ORANGE [1] heaven after all – the culmination of the glitzy material world with big buildings, flashing lights, shiny objects, and the very best designs, food, shopping, service, and comfort that anyone would want to have. Seriously, everyone should go there at least once for a week to experience this, but what was missing was that more GREEN accommodation of quietude, serenity, and silence in appropriate doses. I believe that is the future of Vegas through an integral lens, but that’s another blog!

So did Rose Do Vegas? We toyed with the idea of having a session, as we brought along the video and audio recorders, but as the week wore on we just didn’t feel the need to do so. We were enjoying the comforts, service, and down time as well. Our previous vacation in Maui in 2007, though two weeks in Paradise, was hardly restful. It was more of a bootcamp that laid our foundation with the Rose Agenda along with other key information.

So we gloried in the fact that we could take a bit of rest this year and just enjoy the opulence and abundance. At least, these were the things we focused on, as there was plenty of opportunity to experience the “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas” vibe that encourages people toward excess and extremes. We saw some of that as well. Ironically, while we were asleep by 10-11 PM each night, that’s when the restaurants begin to close and the night clubs begin to open. They go until 5:30 AM. We saw revelers in the Casino lobby one morning as we ate breakfast who had been up all night. Two young men were wearing plastic crowns, holding half consumed beers, and a cigarette in the other hand. They were a hysterical sight. They were in the midst of an all-night bender and having a great time of it!

Somehow I know that Rose would approve in any and all cases. It’s more a question of balance, equilibrium, and extremes, and learning when to say enough’s enough! No small challenge in an environment like Vegas that is cleverly designed to solicit excess at every turn.

Joanne engaged Rose one day at the pool privately. She had just finished reading a book called Loving Frank about Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect, and his tragic mistress Mamah Borthwick. According to Elias Mamah was a focus of Joanne’s, so she was riveted as she read it. Jo wrote down session notes, put down her notebook and airtyped Rose, and then captured what Rose said in her notes. I will note for the record that Jo didn’t autowrite with her pen, she airtyped as she has from the first month, and then captured that with her pen. It was easy in such a relaxed environment.

On Friday, May 9^th, I had an wonderful experience during my Holosync meditation. We had spent six nights at the resort, so I was rested and relaxed. As my CD moved from the Dive into the second half called Immersion, designed to ramp up delta energies, I continued to experiment with the kind of air-typing Jo does with Rose. I was sitting in a towel-draped lounge chair, legs crossed, back and head up, with my hands resting on my thighs. I began by asking if my inner self was present. I got the usual answer, “I am always present” through my fingers. This is a grounding way I open my recent experiments with airtyping, as Rose has been encouraging me to do so.

This was my fourth session that I had done with the Holosync CDs, the previous three at home in my office sitting at my computer. Because I was rested and relaxed, I found that “sweet spot,” for lack of a better term, and had a deep conversation with mySelf for around twenty minutes. That’s a long time at the beginning, so I was excited! I was so relaxed yet awake, and the exchange really flowed smoothly, my airtyping fingers serving as the voice of inner self, and my internal thoughts acting to represent Paul.

At one point I asked, “What can I call you?” and the response was “Friend.” I really liked how neutral it was. I didn’t get Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, or Maitreya – the usual New Age sort of thing, just a friend. Nor a teacher, just a friend. That’s about as unthreatening a personification I could hope for. So I was pleased. At one point Friend suggested that I call these interactions Conversations with mySelf, modeled after Neale Walsch’s popular Conversations with God, but in a less distorted form because God doesn’t speak in a single voice through any single person, place, or thing. Instead God or All-That-Is speaks through everything and everyone, so that’s a sure sign you’ve got distortion when anyone claims they speak for God.

I was also pleased because of this session’s length, though Friend clearly suggested that I take my time, and there was no rush to develop my airtyping skills, because the main focus right now is on Rose and building our website, books, and workshops. Still, Friend was also very clear that this breakthrough on my part was due to Rose, and that she was involved as well in supporting my development. Rose continues to encourage all of us to experiment with the many different types of channeling and energy exchanges that suit our innate intents. In my case, airtyping is the perfect thing to develop, because it suits my Sumari/Sumafi intention.

Afterwards, I told Joanne, and asked her if she had been looking at my fingers? She hadn’t, but she was very emotional and excited for me, as she intuitively knew that I had made a breakthrough. I quietly asked for her notebook and simply wrote down:

May 9, 2008 2 PM

Conversations with mySelf [2]

I resisted the impulse to take notes afterwards. I drew the line, as this was my vacation! So I trusted and allowed, per Rose’s themes for 2008, and let it slide into the dreamy memories of that CD induced delta state. In hindsight, the CD was a key tool for learning to induce this state, something Friend suggested I would leave behind like training wheels in time. But I can’t recommend this CD program highly enough, and it goes to eleven different levels, and I’m only at level one. So it’s designed to allow us to tailor it to our needs, and how far we wish to take it.

Later that evening, we saw O! by Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio. What a way to spend our last night! The Bellagio is one of the best designed and run places in Vegas, and being Friday evening, it was packed. We first had dinner in a restaurant bar, watched the Lakers lose to the Jazz (though they won their series 4-2), noshed on finger food and washed it all down with fine wine and water. The show let us both speechless. It was simply the most creative use of the proscenium arch in theater I had ever seen.

Sumari creativity combined with Zuli perfection of body, movement, grace, and power.

There was a twenty foot deep water tank whose top is level with the stage. So there were synchronized dancers, acrobats, fire dances, contortionists, clowns, high divers, and host of other characters all mixed in a surreal unfolding of exotic music to tell a dream-like story of the many different kinds lives we live. Sometimes the “floor” was solid, sometimes it was water. All that was missing was ice skating!

They went into the audience, pulled out planted cast members in two instances onto the stage and into the water, where they simply disappeared. I had seen a promo piece on O! when it premiered several years ago, so I had some sense of the incredible logistics involved, and yet I was still completely blown away. As the final curtain fell, we just sat and took about ten minutes to try and make sense of what we had just seen. It felt like we had been abducted by aliens or something. The experience was both familiar and strange.

We walked back to our room and in the morning, after another lovely day at the pool, drove home to our kitties. On the drive home I was struck by the fact that Rose did end up “Doing Vegas” in some sense, and yet, there was no need to judge or condemn the many activities that occur in that surreal city. It is truly one of the ten wonders of the world, and everyone should “Do Vegas” at least once in their lives. Whether or not what happens there needs to stay there is up to each of us to decide anyway. Sin City may not be for everyone, but we discovered that there is something for everyone to explore, whether you’re touched by a Blue Man, attacked by a Killer Rabbit, or encountered a mermaid, it’s all a choice.

Endnotes:

[1] For more information on the worldview color system, see Emerging New Worldviews.

[2] I want to acknowledge Grey Bear’s sharing of what he calls Conversations with Myself here on NewWorldView. I have read some of his postings in Ellen Gilbert’s Inner Visions forum, and had forgotten the title during my experience. So when I returned from vacation and noticed that he had posted another series with the same title, I felt comfortable that my slightly different spelling is enough to distinguish and honor the two sources as unique, creative contributions.

A Wonderful Castaic Weekend

We just finished a fun, fun, fun weekend around Mary Ennis’ annual visit to Castaic, CA where the Elias phenomenon began thirteen years ago. During that time, Mary’s delivered over 2,400 sessions! Jo and I hosted this year’s session in our Community Clubhouse, which had been completely refurbished since Mary’s last visit, so the room looked great with its new furniture. Around thirty-two people attended, and there were several new folks as well.

Elias spoke for close to two and a half hours. He opened by informing us that a new wave in consciousness was ramping up, and the perception wave was finally winding down. But he teased us a bit before actually saying what belief system the new wave would emphasize by saying that those with a Vold belonging to or aligning with would have particularly intense times ahead. Also, those who are politically-focused or thought-focused would as well. Then he said that the new wave would focus on… emotions. Since sexuality and emotions are baselines of our human experience, I suspect that we’re going to see some incredible expressions in the coming years. So, strap yourselves in for the ride if you haven’t already.

Elias complimented the entire forum saying that we collectively made it through the recent perception wave in very good shape, meaning less trauma-drama than in previous waves. While the perception wave was relatively short, under two years, we should gear ourselves up, because this emotion wave is going to last a while and be an intense one (thinking of the truth wave that lasted over three years)!

Elias then queried the group to share what we had taken away from our own experiences in terms of perception. At least nine or ten people took their turns, one by one, guided by Elias’ comments and occasional elaborations. I was struck by the clever format because even though everyone didn’t have time to offer up their perspectives and experience, just listening to others stimulated my own responses and reflections from events over the past two years.

According to Elias, perception is the causal, creative element that creates 100% of our reality. So my musings went into the area of beginning to more deeply understand my multidimensional selfhood in more direct terms, which involves widening egoic awareness to understand that objective awareness alone is not 100% causal. And while beliefs are very, very important, they are really a subset of perception. So they, in turn, cannot be considered 100% creating of reality either, even though they play a key role. Still, these waves in consciousness help us, through introspection, to better know our preferences and opinions, and create what we truly desire.

After an hour or so, we had our break. As we gathered for the second half, I announced the release of Jo’s new Rose website – www.essence-of-rose.com – that will replace her In the Rose Garden blog here on NewWorldView (it will close down at the end of April). I also invited those staying over until Monday to come to our house the next day for a Rose Potluck Dinner and group session at 4 PM.

Through the entire session I was struck by how consistent Elias’ teachings remain over the years, and how well he guides the group energy. As the second half began, we continued sharing our experiences with the perception wave, and gradually moved onto other topics. While everyone came away with their own highlights, I was struck by two questions asked by Drew (Matthew in the early sessions) during this part. The first was about whether the saying “God is love” is a distortion because love is a human belief system. The second was about the nature of intent, and its relation to those who purposefully seek out a life of suffering.

Elias was careful to define the context of his words, and said that when we define love as a human feeling – a very important human feeling – it is relative to human perceptions and could be considered a distortion. Thus to equate “all of consciousness” (Elias’ term for All-That-Is) with this human expression limits a broader context in which other expressions of love also exist. This expands into a transpersonal, transcendental love in my view. While Elias didn’t use those exact words, he defined a broader context in which expressions of love, as knowing and appreciation, exist throughout all of consciousness. In that context, to say “God is love” is accurate, because it is an Absolute Truth.

I learned something very important in this exchange, because I had never been able to reconcile Elias’ Absolutes with the nondual, ever-present, always already Consciousness spoken of in all the world’s great spiritual traditions. It’s a subtle distinction, but one worth exploring. It caused me to review my Digest on Absolutes (“there are no absolutes!”), and then to update my introductory note on my Digest on the belief system of truth with the following:

Finally, we need to explore an important, yet subtle, distinction Elias implies with this concept, namely, the difference between duality and nonduality. Elias’ truths (relative) and Truths (Absolute) apply only to dualistic constructions within all of consciousness. They do not apply to the nondual, ever-present, always already shunyata or emptiness that is the Primal Cause of all be-ing. Therefore, what Elias is talking about thus far only applies to dualistic manifestations or constructions that he is familiar with. The great nondual philosophers, for example Patanjali and Nagarjuna in the East, have all shown convincingly that nondual reality can never be fully described or expressed, only experienced. According to Nagarjuna, as cited by Ken Wilber:

“It cannot be called void or not void,
“Or both or neither;
“But in order to point it out,
“It is called Void.”

In this context, nondual reality is not something to be attained or sought. It is simply the realization of the ever-present, always already opening in our awareness in which the action of consciousness occurs. It can be talked about, and pointed out, but all those are secondary, dualistic constructions. Another way to understand this simple feeling of be-ing is to inquire, “What Aspect of my awareness never changes, even as my perception changes, from waking state to dream state to deep dreamless state to waking state?” In other words, no matter what states we experience, which by definition are temporary because we cycle through them every day, what remains constant in all states is eternal, timeless, nondual Spirit: Primal Cause of all of consciousness. Therefore, this Primal Cause can never be fully realized by the words Elias uses to describe the Absolute Truths within all manifest, dualistic realities, for it can only be directly experienced. It has no beginning and no end. Thus, the ONLY Absolute Universal Truth is the ineffable, radically unqualifiable, nondual Primal Cause. Everything else, like tone, color, love, consciousness, etc. are dualistic to the core and, as such, are always secondary constructions. So it’s important to properly situate Elias’ relative truths as human belief systems and Absolute Truths as qualities in all manifest, dualistic constructions in relation to all of consciousness.

However, Elias doesn’t use the terms nondual and dual, though coincidentally Kris, channeled by Serge Grandbois, has. Rather than belabor the point, let me recommend Ken Wilber’s The Simple Feeling of Being as an accessible yet thorough overview of the nondual traditions. This is not a book with endnotes and complex intellectual theories, like his academic work, but a compilation by senior students of his “poetry,” the best means to hint at the simple essence of nondual reality. (See also my book review in the Library.)

Why has Elias chosen not to go into dual and nondual distinctions? Only time will tell. In the mean time, these thoughts were triggered by the way Elias discussed how “God is love” can mean different things in different contexts. As long as we clearly define them, we can explore these nuanced contexts from multiple perspectives.

Now, let’s return to Drew’s second question, something he’s been exploring for years, and also recently asked Rose about: how does our innate intent work? Is it possible for us to choose a lifetime of misery and suffering, and as such, would trying to alleviate or change that suffering interfere with our deepest desires for this lifetime?

Elias provided a long answer, but I was able to boil it down to a well known philosophical argument: is our universe and reality predetermined, or do we have the free will to change anything at any time? A subset of this explores the nature of probabilities, and how can we change them if our intent is to experience a life of, what many might define as, suffering.

Of course, there is no simple answer to these penetrating questions, but Elias did restate that our “pools of probabilities” exist as potentials and are not preordained (his term). In this light, Elias does not promote a deterministic view of reality, but promotes free will (doing and choosing). He stated again that we create probabilities in the moment, in the now (thinking of Seth’s “point of power”), and therefore we can indeed change our path at any time. Moreover, Elias said, “You can have it all.” While there’s many who suffer, and in reality, no one suffers 100% of their life. We may choose difficult circumstances politically, economically, relationship-wise, health-wise, etc. but in all cases, if we are choosing, we can create significant change through our ability to act in the now.

Otherwise, beliefs in a predetermined universe produce social systems like the caste system in premodern India. It used the belief system of karma to justify the poverty of the untouchable class. As a result of misdeeds in earlier lives, they are punished and must “burn off bad karma” by being reincarnated into underprivileged circumstances. Therefore, their problems didn’t need to be dealt with by the government. That’s just the way it goes! In effect, since their punishment for bad karma is predetermined, they deserve it and can be ignored. This kind of deterministic theology also occurred in the West during the Middle Ages. If you were born poor or of royal blood, it was God’s will, and that was your lot in life, and it couldn’t be changed.

So Drew was using Elias’ information to understand his own suffering from a deterministic perspective. He felt he couldn’t, or shouldn’t, do anything to change his situation. But Elias didn’t reinforce those beliefs, and gently reminded Drew, and the group who followed with compassion, that our true power lies in choice (free will), and noticing what we do and choose. If we really desire it, there is nothing stopping us from attaining our desires: good health, loving relationships, financial abundance, ending war, violence, and on and on; nothing at all. Needless to say, Elias gave us a lot to assimilate, as always.

Elias ended the session with his usual, loving encouragement to the entire group, with best wishes for our continued fulfillment in any way we desire. After the session people dispersed to various places to enjoy dinner and continued conversation. It was great to see so many old and new faces.

After cleaning up and closing the clubhouse, Jo and I went home and got some rest to prepare for the Rose Potluck Dinner and group session at our house the next day. By 4:30 PM Sunday, we had sixteen people over for our fourth Rose group session. Jo spent the hour beforehand “resting in Rose” or meditating so she’s “in state” and relaxed by session time. I greeted people, and then gave a short introduction to what’s been going on and what to expect.

Coinkidinkily, Jo had just celebrated her first anniversary of Rose coming through on the Ouija board, April 5^th, on Saturday during the Elias session. Jo made a point, when sharing her experiences with the perception wave, to express her deep appreciation of Mary and Elias, for without them, she wouldn’t be doing this. And I’d like to express the same thing, not only to Mary and Elias, but Ron, Cathy, Vicki, Bobbi, Lynda, David, Gail, and many others who’ve contributed to the Elias forum over the years.

I mentioned that we had held 234 sessions in the first year. This was possible because Jo autotypes her “vespers,” or one on one sessions with Rose. She also holds voice sessions, which I continue to transcribe. We have over one thousand pages at this point, and have finished up to session 90, in terms of final notes and editing. We will add more material to the new website as we continue this process in the months and years ahead (we are looking for transcribers to help. If you’re interested, please contact me at helfrich@newworldview.com).

Next, I provided an overview of the phenomenon to date. The main point was that Jo progressed from the board to autotyping to voice channeling very rapidly, and continues to “airtype” as Rose “speaks” through her fingers. So I instructed folks to watch her hands during the session, because Jo often verbally translates directly from her fingers. In this light, Jo is a “conscious channel” (like Ron/Patel) as opposed to a “trance channel” (like Seth, Elias, Kris, C9, Defrene, etc.). Thus, Jo is present to varying degrees, and can actually speak as well. This takes some getting used to, because we’re not used to Jane, Mary, or Serge interacting during a session. They are dissociated in varying kinds of sleep or meditative states.

So it’s kind of fun to watch Jo react to Rose as she translates in real time, though once she gets on a roll, she speaks so quickly now that she “knows” the words before they get “airtyped.” Yet the autotyping is a key skill she will continue to use for writing books (Rose has dictated two small books already). Rose has also been training Jo to access deeper states, so I consider her more of a “light trance channel,” because she can’t just rattle off Rose if her “monkey mind” is too engaged. She knows when she has to “go deeper” and people have begun to observe how her energy and state changes during the course of a voice session.

Next, I pointed out a few of Rose’s eccentricities and what to expect, for example, her use of “tests.” She does this to stir the pot and get a reaction to bring issues, beliefs, etc. to the surface. She will make what may seem like an outrageous or illogical statement that, if taken literally, is absurd. For example, my favorite so far, “Kill the terrorists!” It can be quite challenging and takes getting used to, because she’s not really promoting murder as a solution to social problems at all. Instead, she’s using a Zen-like technique to force the rational mind and intellect to loosen up, and move into deeper intuitions and inner sensing for problem solving and inspiration.

Also, Rose makes up new words (neologisms) to help break up the linear flow of language, and entrenched beliefs and habits. For example, she uses words like treantea (explore multiple choices), sonter (breathe in essence), weany boy/girl (wean of fear, guilt, shame), feal (mergence of feel+real), and more to help widen awareness and nuance new ways of perceiving things.

Then I talked about the “nun-thing,” another one of my favorites. The Rose energy, as expressed through Joanne, represents a newly emergent feminine energy intended to rebalance social structures on a global scale dominated by patriarchal, masculine energies that have become way out of balance. This energy is tailored for this shift in consciousness, this period of transition to new worldviews to help restore the feminine side within all people to better balance.

I also addressed the question, “Is this the same Rose as Elias’ Rose?” Our answer is “yes and no.” I explained that the Rose energy must be translated through any channel, and as such, it will be colored by Aspects of the multidimensional self. For example, with there is Rose <> Tyl <> Joanne, and Rose <> Elias <> Michael <> Mary – two different expressions. Further, we have begun to get some information on Christ and the so-called nine children of Rose, but we are taking our time before going down that rabbit hole! All of which is to point out that when you engage Rose/Joanne, do not expect the exact same translation, vocal style, or definition of terms as Seth, Elias, Kris, etc. It’s like having different orchestras and conductors interpret Beethoven’s ninth symphony. There will be many similarities, but also differences, and learning to discern these takes time and intelligence.

The session began around 4:50 PM. There were several references to concepts from the Elias session that took us into some really deep waters right away, including the nature of love (knowing and appreciation), Rose’s fallibility, compassion, selfishness, shadow projections, fear, “terrorism” and bullies, and more.

We took a break at 5:45 PM. for a potluck dinner that included pasta salads, garlic bread, an almond rice dish, and plenty to wash it down with! Gail Becker was a huge help in organizing the food, and making everything yummy. She also took this picture of Jo in session. Thanks Gail!

We resumed at 7:20 PM. and went for another ninety minutes! That’s around five hours of session time including the Elias group the day before. Concepts included fun, following our bliss, learning to channel, changing self and changing the world (long interaction here), the shift in consciousness, and a finale that featured Jo’s nascent mediumship skills. We’ve documented several encounters with relatives and friends in our first year, and a participant asked about a friend named Charlie. Without skipping a beat, Rose allowed Charlie to come through, much to Jo’s surprise and laughter! She actually had to disengage and laugh out loud because Rose made the switch so fast. The exchange with Charlie included a test from Rose – information about someone named Carol, a yellow cab driver in Santa Monica. We will continue to track all of these encounters to determine their authenticity, and what’s going on in terms of the energy exchange.

Finally, the session wrapped at 8:50 PM. and we continued to talk over desert (cookies, cupcakes, and candies), coffee, and tea until 10 PM. went folks began to say their “goodbyes.” Thanks to all of you who participated in the Elias group and Rose Potluck this year, all in all, we had a wonderful weekend in Castaic!

2008 Elections

(This post was inspired by a topic started by John McNally on Sethnet by the same name. I began to write a reply and I realized that it belonged here.)

I am more optimistic about the Democrats chances in November, even Clinton will be better than McCain, though ironically, some Republicans are debating that! However, it is now possible that a groundswell of Barackomania may sweep him into the White House in January.

I don't often post political speeches, but Barack Obama has a real gift to galvanize his audience and provide hope for much needed social changes. We Boomers lived through the sixties and saw times of turbulent change and a new, postmodern worldview emerge (what we call the GREEN altitude in integral). So this has harmonic resonances to those times, feelings, and issues, but I don't know if the collective has enough momentum yet. Yesterday's speech certainly puts his candidacy in a new light, and may be a watershed moment in his presidential bid.

Also, for those of you who get HBO, check out the John Adams mini-series. It shows the American Revolution from his Bostonian perspective, and how the revolution sprouted from The Boston Massacre and Tea Party to Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill and spread across the Colonies. I was born in Philadelphia, PA and worked at the Franklin Institute Science Museum for ten years, so I've had a front row seat to learn about how the American Experiment has unfolded through history. And I suspect we may be witnessing, and participating in another small but unique shift in the process during this election cycle.

As Margaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a thoughtful committed group of citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has."

Additionally, we can now factor in Jane Roberts's moving American Vision that closes The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto to reveal how hopeful she was of our American Experiment, and how The Seth Material, and related bodies of work, could take their place in the public sector some day, and stop being relegated to likes of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and other fundamentalists. That is, what she called psychic naturalists could provide a grass roots groundswell of authentic, psychic, spiritual, altered-states fueled contributions to the collective, free of the premodern, superstitious nonsense that riddles so many religious movements based on metaphysical Absolutes (like virgin births, bodily resurrections, heaven being up in the sky, etc.). Jane's work is a testimony to post-post conventional cognitive and spiritual lines that not only took a rational approach to her altered states and abilities, but began to understand the systemic nature of collective co-creation.

Perhaps the Obama candidacy will be one small step in the direction of addressing to the much needed social, fiscal, educational, military, and economic changes needed to realize Jane's American Vision to burst forth. In other words, we need a strong foundation of healthy, educated, dedicated, awake, and creative citizens to achieve that Vision, and the current system, as we all know falls way short because of old wounds, racial, class, and gender divides, ethnocentric ways of thinking, and ingrained patterns that no longer provide adequate solutions from a global, systems perspective.

Further, the worldviews of current entrenched political and economic interest (AMBER/ORANGE conservatives) tend to commit what Wilber calls the level-line fallacy, thereby reducing all authentic transrational, inner senses fueled cognition to Freudian prerational, infantile dissociative pathology (a variation of his pre/trans fallacies).

Therefore, we also need to consider the emerging integral movement of Ken Wilber and Don Beck, among others, who are showing new ways to solve problems by taking a wider view with an Integral Politics and integral approach. As Einstein is oft-quoted, "The significant problems we face can never be solved at the level of thinking that created them."

Barack Obama is showing signs that he has the pluralistic vision, spiritual depth, and political will to begin what could be an eight year run at countering the regressive policies of the Bush Family legacy (Wall Street Republicans = AMBER/ORANGE in integral stages). To this end, I share the following:

March 18, 2008 ~ Philadelphia, PA

Barack Obama ~ An Excerpt

"We have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle—as we did in the OJ trial—or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina—or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words.

"We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

"We can do that.

"But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

"That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

"This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

"This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

"This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

"I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation—the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

"There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today—a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

"There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

"And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

"She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

"She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

"Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

"Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

""I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

"But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins."

You can watch or read the entire speech here:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords

Final comment: change begins at the grass roots level addressing to basic issues required to build, support, and nurture a healthy, educated, and spiritually awake citizenry. Issues like universal health care, equal job opportunities, creative outlets, gay and lesbian rights, immigration, corrupt banking and financial practices, an over-extended military, and more need to be addressed from the bottom up, in integral terms, not the top down. This is what is required to support the kind of shift in consciousness that Seth, Elias, Kris, Rose, and others talk about, so it may fully blossom in the next seven decades (that's 3-4 generations!). At times it feels impossible, and yet I also am beginning to sense the light at the end of the tunnel and realize that it's not a train, but a new worldview beckoning from an increasingly most probable future. In any case, get out and vote your conscience during this election year.

Integral Impressions on The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts: Part 1 of 5

(Preface, Chapters 1-4)

Foreword

Several attempts have been made over the years to review The Nature of Personal Reality chapter by chapter in our online forums, but due to the immensity of the challenge have never gotten past the initial chapters. Recently on NewWorldView, however, Tom Sherlock stepped up to the plate and is attempting this heroic endeavor once again by publishing a précis of each chapter in order over the next few months.

This inspired me to commit to a five-part series - a sort of Cliff Notes - on the core themes that Seth, Jane, and Rob explored through the benefit of an integral lens, which by definition includes a more comprehensive, balanced, and inclusive set of perspectives provided by Ken Wilber. You can expect these notes to be unlike any you've encountered to date in a Seth book, but they are secondary, so you can skip them if they don't interest you.

The basic idea, then, is to read one chapter at a time in order, and spend a week or so concentrating on the core ideas. This spreads your reading over a period of months to better understand many of the core concepts. So sit back, take your time, and enjoy this marvelous book!

When we reread an influential book, we do so with new eyes. In the process, we discover new layers of understanding because we have encountered many of the concepts in the real world, and they no longer remain abstractions or theories without the evidence of experience. In this sense, the Seth books are gifts that keep on giving - evergreens - because direct experience helps us penetrate more deeply into layers of meaning cleverly hardwired into the text. How many times have you reread a book and thought it got much better or clearer? It's a mirror of our own growth through time.

Jane Roberts was at the peak of her creative life during the writing of The Nature of Personal Reality. For instance, she wrote in the intro that she considered Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time and The Speakers poems as companions to NPR because they show how her creative and psychic abilities were developing in complementary ways. At this stage of her career, the Seth books had become the means to reach a much larger audience than was possible through private or group sessions, like ESP class.

Jane also began the first Oversoul Seven book during this amazing period. Further, she talked about how she could sense multiple channels or blocks of Seth material available as book dictation, or answers to Rob's questions, or answers to other questions, all at once. Jane also began what she called "the Sumari development," which included singing, pantomime, poetry, and even math. As if this wasn't enough, Jane also developed her Aspect Psychology model in Adventures in Consciousness to explain it all!

So The Nature of Personal Reality was a truly foundational work. It also coined the New Age mantra "you create your own reality" that is still in use today. Another important feature is how Jane and Rob wove their personal lives, mass events like the Elmira/Agnes flood, and the creative nature of the Seth phenomenon into the structure of this book. As such, it is multi-layered and sets up the next book, the magnum opus called The "Unknown" Reality (the only Seth book to include an organized set of transformational Practice Elements and extensive supporting research by Rob Butts).

However, if this is the first time you read The Nature of Personal Reality, you can skip most of Rob's notes and read only Seth's words the first time through. That will make the ideas easier to assimilate. Be sure to include them the second time through, as they add an important dimension.

[Note: integral comments are included in brackets below. You also can skip them and still get the core ideas presented by Seth.]

Summary

Main points to contemplate when reading the Preface and Chapters 1-4:

• Seth focused on ontology - the nature of Being, or Self - and outlined a broad map:
• All-That-Is: mentioned one time-a primary organizing gestalt. [Also called causal body-mind.]
• Inner Self: also called soul, psyche, source self: a mediating nonphysical "region" between All-That-Is and its physically manifested selves. [Also called subtle body-mind.]
• Conscious Mind: Seth used a giant camera metaphor with outer ego as director of lens and focus geared toward physical constructions. [Also called gross body-mind.]
• All the above structures work in concert; the distinctions are artificial and only useful insofar as to point out Aspects within our own awareness right now that may be useful in addressing to various challenges and limited definitions of Self. There are essentially no boundaries or separation to Self or All-That-Is. This is a core belief Seth promotes early on.

[Seth defined the conscious mind as something much wider than just the ego. So this hints at the un- or subconscious processes that early psychologists like Baldwin, Freud, Mesmer, William James, and F. W.H. Meyers began to map in the 19th century.]

[The expanded way Seth defined the conscious mind comes very close to what Jane would soon call the nuclear self in Aspects, distinct from the focus personality. It was her attempt to identify the psychological structure that helped to manage all probable selves within each focus personality (Seth's outer ego) and source self (Seth's inner self or inner ego).]

• With the above concept map presented, Seth recommends that we explore our conscious minds through introspection. "I am not telling you to examine your thoughts so frequently and with such vigor that you get in your own way, but you are not fully conscious unless you are aware of the contents of your conscious mind." p. 34.
• Seth introduced the concept of feeling-tone as a means to more deeply engage the conscious mind and inner self. He offered a simple practice (p. 20-21) in which to discern the simple feeling of being, our innate feeling-tone [or essence-tone to use Elias' equivalent].
• Regarding the exercises in the book overall, Seth said that "The methods that I will outline demand concentration and effort [my italics]. They will also challenge you, and bring into your life expansion and alterations of consciousness of a most rewarding nature." P. xix. In other words, this is not a quick-fix book, but requires serious concentration and effort. Further, it will lead to altered states that are quite beneficial, but mostly denied and repressed by modern worldviews.
• Seth focused initially on the role of thoughts, ideas, beliefs, expectations, emotions, feelings, and imagination in reality creation. All are psychological structures with concomitant physical structures (i.e., brain/body) that are co-causal. That is, they work together in some mysterious way to form, make, and create personal reality.

[An integral approach doesn't over-emphasize inner or outer structures, but a harmonious blend of both. So it's not all about any one factor, but how all of them work together.]

• Note thus far that the phrase YCYOR is not used, but "you make" or "you form" your own reality is the dominant linguistic expression.
• [Seth used the term "gestalt," or collective consciousness, to describe the consciousness of trees and rocks, cells and organs, and "the race of man." Though he doesn't go deeper, there are clear holonic relationships that outline how All-That-Is is nested within all reality creation. "Consider the spectacular framework of your body just from the physical standpoint. You perceive it as solid, as you perceive all other physical matter; yet the more matter is explored the more obvious it becomes that within it energy takes on specific shape (in the form of organs, cells, molecules, atoms, electrons [my italics]), each less physical than the last, each combining in mysterious gestalt to form matter." P. 20.]

[Note that Seth follows the exact order of Wilber's holonic model in the above example. Each is "less physical" than the previous and combine in a "mysterious gestalt" to form our bodies. This is what Wilber means by each wider or superholon "transcends yet includes" each narrower or subholon. For more on holons and holarchy, see: All-That-Is as Holarchy.]

• Seth also outlined the larger, mass gestalt framework within which personal reality occurs. He even outlined a brief history of the conscious mind, for example, showing how the modern conscious mind limited earlier, premodern emotional and psychic abilities, while making great leaps forward by emphasizing the rational-empirical-analytical aspects during the Industrial Revolution.
• Seth also pointed out how mainstream, modern beliefs in Freud's unsavory subconscious -the modern version of The Church's sinful self - have influenced and limited mass reality creation. In other words, they prevent self-examination and introspection of our conscious mind to unmask invisible core beliefs that limit our potentials, because we're taught to believe that only a "priesthood" of trained therapists and years of psychoanalysis can hope to unlock them. So just believing in the existence of Seth's ontology - that there is a conscious mind and inner self all nested within All-That-Is - becomes very important in learning to work more closely with The Self "who creates 100%" of our personal reality. In other words, it's not just limited to outer ego, thoughts, emotions, beliefs, etc., but includes the inner self and even deeper Aspects of All-That-Is, though we don't want to get ahead of Seth's story.
• Another linguistic pattern to notice is that Seth mentions "there is no other rule" three times throughout Chapter Three:



• "What exists physically exists first in thought and feeling. There is no other rule." P. xvii.


• "You make your own reality. There is no other rule. Knowing this is the secret of creativity." P. 14.


• "You get what you concentrate upon. There is no other main rule." P. 45. (This quote was taped on the office wall of Rob Butts during my visits to the Hill House in December 1991 and April 1993.)



[In terms of discernment (adequate interpretation of meaning and linguistic context) this means that Seth used the phrase "there is no other rule" as a strong emphasis and NOT as an Absolute. Otherwise, it would be performative contradiction that ends up negating itself. Still, all three focus on the importance of subjective experience in reality creation, and seem to under-emphasize the role of physical counterparts, like the brain, body, genes, DNA, organs, cells, etc. In hindsight, I believe this emphasis on interiors and idealism (for instance, Jane's idea constructions) is a reaction against the modern emphasis on exteriors and scientific materialism in general. Therefore, from an integral perspective, we attempt to account for both as we interpret Seth's words and intended meanings.]

• Seth began to outline a taxonomy of beliefs that will be further developed:



• Core - foundational belief systems [vMemes] around which many other beliefs [memes] orbit.


• Limiting- beliefs [memes] that serve to inhibit growth and widening.


• Invisible - beliefs [memes] held as Absolute truths that are, in fact, relative and malleable. They are not buried or unconscious, instead they include unexamined assumptions about the nature of reality that may no longer serve our growth and fulfillment.


• Subsidiary/Corollary - offshoots of core beliefs [memes]. Once core belief systems are addressed, false or distorted subsidiary beliefs simply lose their energetic affect. They still exist as potentials, but are neutralized.


• Directional - beliefs [memes] that children receive from parents to ensure a sense of safety to develop their abilities and explore their world.


• Conflicting - subsidiary beliefs [memes] held in simultaneous opposition that manifest physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual symptoms. A physical example, the beliefs that it's important to write (I'm good at communicating with my wife) and it's important to not write (I'm not very good at communicating with a parent) will produce confusing signals to the hands, leading to tension, stress, and cramps when writing. However, once fully identified and addressed to, the opposition and symptoms can be neutralized.


• Joint - beliefs [memes] shared in relationships. Interpersonal beliefs of a similar nature.


• Body - beliefs [memes] about the body's function and whether those functions are healthy or unhealthy, socially acceptable or not, etc.


• Negative - beliefs [memes] that generate strong emotional and imaginative connections that produce unhealthy, even pathological symptoms.


• Active/Passive - the former are beliefs in use by the conscious mind, the latter lie latent as potentials to be activated by conscious mind. This also relates to negative and positive beliefs that are actively in use.


• Private - personal beliefs held by the individual. However, since they are available to others, so when we change beliefs we may get mixed messages intended to sabotage our new beliefs because they no longer align with previous groupthink. "These people will either drop out of your experience or you must drop them from yours." P. 77.


• [The Developmental Seth - though Seth, Jane, and Rob don't go into great detail, they show an understanding of how humans develop through stages, and how our beliefs, belief systems, and worldviews do as well. For example, in the Introduction Jane talked about "the Sumari development," and later in chapter three Seth talked about the different channels of material now available to Jane in waking state indicated a certain "stage of development" in her personal abilities.]

[In chapter four, Seth discussed the origins of beliefs as transmitted and reinforced by our parents. He points out "early stages of development" and the impact of "directional beliefs" that create a nurturing framework where children can explore and develop more easily. Thus, as children, we take our parents' beliefs as Absolute Reality until we mature enough to begin to discern for ourselves that they are beliefs about reality that are not Absolutes.]

[Further, we developed reasoning abilities (intellect) as a species that were meant to "evolve and grow as they are used." As our cognitive capacities develop, we become "more conscious" as well. So growth and development equal increased consciousness in physical terms.]

[The "mature conscious mind" is defined as one that accepts exterior (physical senses and intellect) and interior information (inner knowledge, deep intuition = hunches, inspiration, precognition, clairvoyance). Thus, to limit the function of the conscious mind to one or the other results in an imbalance.]

[However, Seth, Jane, and Rob didn't really get into how the basic stages unfold from egocentric (me) to groupcentric (us) to worldcentric (all of us) to Kosmocentric (All-That-Is). So this book is an introduction to foundational principles, because we can only cover so much in one book!]

In summary, Seth concentrated on ontology or the nature of being by pointing the psychological structures we use in reality creation. He made the nature of being explicit in his pointing out instructions. However, he did not focus on epistemology - how we know what is true and what constitutes evidence of the true. So this remains implicit to Seth's story-telling at this point.

On the other hand, Seth did cover the inner, mental (reason), and outer senses in previous sessions that were published in The Seth Material. So epistemology is covered elsewhere in the material. Keep in mind that The Nature of Personal Reality began with session 609, April 10, 1972, years after Seth made his first appearance.

[Extra Credit: For those interested in applying an integral approach:]

• [Seth provided an exercise in which we begin to list various beliefs. This is a good place to introduce Elias' ten foundational belief systems. From our integral lens, they can be understood as a typology that unfolds in stages of development. For example, if we take the values line from Spiral Dynamics, it deals with beliefs (memes), belief systems (vMemes), and worldviews (weltanschauung) in the individual and how they scale up into the collective through the four quadrants.]



[Within the values or beliefs line, then, we find ten types (or zones or bird cages, to use Elias' metaphor) of core belief systems. It is within these belief systems that we find individual beliefs. So the following is one way to organize the sum total of all our beliefs within ten main belief systems. Together, these ten belief systems form our worldviews:

• Relationships (interpersonal/intrapersonal = self/other)


• Duplicity (morality/ethics)


• Sexuality (sexuality/gender/orientation/preference)


• Truth (relative truths/Absolute Truth)


• Emotion (emotional/feeling)


• Perception (perceptual/attention)


• The senses (inner/mental/outer sensing)


• Religious/spirituality (exoteric/esoteric)


• Scientific/elements of physical reality (scientific/rational)


• Physical creation of the universe, including accidents and coincidences (creation mythos)]


• [As we begin to notice and identify beliefs, the above typology helps us organize and explore interrelationships between them. The rest of NPR will emphasize how belief systems are structured in ways that we can learn through sincere introspection to notice, identify, and address to those core beliefs that lie at the root of our main challenges, problems, and dis-eases.]

The Survival Files: A Review

The Survival Files: The Most Convincing Evidence Yet Compiled For the Survival of Your Soul by Miles Edward Allen, Momentpoint Books (2005).

Is there a soul? Is there an afterlife? What about reincarnation? In the spirit of William James and F.W.H. Meyers, Miles Edward Allen provides an overview of scientific evidence for the existence of the soul and its survival of bodily death. Given the ineffable nature of the subject matter, the results are hardly final, though as we will see, they provide a solid introduction and foundation for further exploration.

Allen’s writing style is clear and precise. He employs a literary technique in which two main characters – the “wise elder” and “student/researcher” – explore twenty three case studies that include phenomena like out-of-body projections, remote viewing, astral bodies, near-death experiences, reincarnation, psi, mediumship, channeling, electronic voice phenomena, and metaphysics. Over a three-day weekend in the mountains of West Virginia, they engage in a well crafted and easy to read Socratic dialogue on the many implications of these phenomena, most of which have been reported throughout human history.

Allen also includes bad guys as a foil – the Überskeptics – who employ an array of tactics, some scientific, and some political, to chronically marginalize decades of legitimate evidence based on the modern scientific paradigm. In the process we discover that the politics and economics of modern science are a juicy, sometimes scandalous affair. Allen does his best to show that the Überskeptics – who are ready to refute, deny, obfuscate all the evidence he presents – have their own political and economic agendas. For instance, is anyone whose show biz name begins with an adjective, like The Amazing Randi, to be taken seriously as a bulwark of scientific clarity and precision?  Hardly.

Yet on the other hand, is it possible to prove through current scientific methods the existence of the soul? Not really. But that’s the bad and good news. As long as we employ the modern materialist, reductionist paradigm – what Ken Wilber calls Flatland – to rationally prove the existence of realities beyond the purview of the five physical senses we will fail. It is impossible, and the Überskeptics will win the day, because they have loaded the deck and limited the playing field to what constitutes valid evidence: five senses-only perception and third-person perspectives (objects, things, its). This, in itself, is not a bad thing. It’s just a very limited approach that ultimately fails every time we try to rationally prove the existence of the soul and its survival of death. I wish Allen had explored this further, and yet, there is plenty of room for a next generation book to tease out these complex and subtle issues.

What Allen is able to accomplish – the strength of this book – is to provide an overview of compelling research done by educated, well meaning, and competent scientists who have been on the fringes of the mainstream. He provides thought provoking arguments for why certain cases may be stronger or weaker in terms of potential fraud, bad methods, or misinterpreting the data. Pioneers like Raymond Moody, Kenneth Ring, Robert Monroe, Jane Roberts, and many others are included to hint at an emerging postmodern paradigm that can more accurately study something as ineffable as the soul, and as such, show that it exists even though we can’t measure it terms of basic quantum fields using instruments made of quantum fields alone.

In integral terms, most of what is covered is the result of ORANGE and GREEN epistemologies, or ways of knowing. A wider, more integral approach to the subject – a TEAL approach – would show how shamen, sages, and adepts through the millennia have employed various meditation methods with discipline and rigor in a community of peers adequate to that paradigm to produce unequivocal evidence to support the existence of the soul and its survival of bodily death, for example, The Bardo Thodol (mistranslated as The Tibetan Book of the Dead). This is a missed opportunity in this otherwise highly recommended book, namely, to show that there is a scientific method that’s been used for thousands of years that includes what Seth, channeled by Jane Roberts and mentioned repeatedly in the book, called inner senses. These go by different names in different cultures, for example, third eye, second attention, eye of spirit, eye of contemplation, and so on.

When combined with the five physical senses and mental rational senses, the inner senses provide a more complete way of seeing the soul and its survival of death from first, second, and third-person perspectives. Taken together, this is what Seth calls the high intellect, a superb blend of the three ways of knowing into a new cognitive faculty (which I call hyperception). It is one way to expand the modern scientific paradigm into a more comprehensive and inclusive postmodern paradigm, one that includes the best practices of modern and premodern paradigms. This approach is what William James outlined over a century ago as a “science of the soul” at Harvard. Unfortunately, his vision was derailed by the modern reductionist approaches to consciousness still favored by today’s Überskeptics.

All of which hints at what Seth called Dream-Art Science, something I’ve written about extensively elsewhere – an emerging postmodern science that demands the use of physical, mental, and inner senses to provide a more complete, a more true and less partial understanding of the human body in relation to its soul. In this light, we can begin to better explore the nature of the soul and its survival of bodily death, not based solely on my or some expert’s say-so, but also through our own first-person experience. Still, we are decades, if not centuries, away from this kind of postmodern science on any collective scale, and books like The Survival Files provide an accessible introduction to the many issues involved.

We also begin to see that the Überskeptics, who really aren’t bad guys, have simply made careers and a lot of money playing the foil to bad science and metaphysical claims that can’t be justified through conventional, five senses only methods. They are actually correct in many cases and show that the science or conclusions drawn from a particular study have flaws. That is good science! So they, too, offer true but partial perspectives, though we can see that only from a wider postmodern worldview. The Überskeptic’s world is thus limited to black and white, true or false, right or wrong-only propositions. There’s no wiggle room, no shades of gray, and thus no room for a pluralism of “true but partial” perspectives and methods.

To ultimately prove the existence of the soul in unequivocal, bone rattling, completely certain terms we must learn to directly experience ourselves as soul, which is transcendent to our physical bodies. Compelling anecdotal evidence from near-death, out-of-body experiencers, etc., are only enough to create solid faith that what others have experienced is real, true, and valid. Ironically, it is the same kind of faith that more religious individuals use to maintain the validity of virgin births, bodily resurrections, parting of seas, and walking on water.

However, in integral terms these are two different kinds of faith because they occur at different stages of development; the former is modern ORANGE/GREEN, the latter is premodern AMBER. Thus, faith is not something bad, but only a precursor to direct experience, illumination, and remembrance, which always occurs in first-person terms, not through third-person anecdotes. In this sense, then, we come away with a strong faith that the people in these twenty-three case studies are not all tainted by mental illness, bad science, or outright fraud, but in fact are directly experiencing themselves as soul to some degree. This is an important first step.

Allen also offers interesting metaphysical speculations about the mechanics of death and thereafter from the soul’s perspective. One of the closing chapters provides a “Celestial Q&A” that outlines a roadmap of what one might encounter at death based on the anecdotal evidence. Topics include heaven, hell, guides, teachers, life reviews, karma, reincarnation, suicide, responsibility for life’s action, and more. This is the kind of overview I’d want to provide my children when they begin to ask questions about death and the afterlife.

All in all, The Survival Files outlines enough compelling anecdotal evidence to motivate its reader want to learn more the emerging “science of the soul,” and that Überskeptical obfuscations are not based entirely on legitimate agendas. I highly recommend this book for teenagers and adults who are beginning to explore these important existential issues. While there are no hard and fast conclusions to be made, Allen’s engaging story introduces many issues that need to be addressed before final conclusions can be reached. Ironically, we will all pass through death’s door some day and will learn unequivocally the truth for ourselves. And yet, having an accurate roadmap is highly recommended, and The Survival Files delivers just that.

(Note: this book was originally published under the title Heaven Confirmed: The Most Convincing Evidence Yet Compiled For the Survival of Your Soul.)

An Integral Overview of Channeling

“A Kiss for a Crone”

Joanne and I are celebrating her 50^th birthday this week. Since it occurs near the Thanksgiving holiday, there is always a feeling of appreciation on various fronts. But this year there is something extra special to be thankful for, namely, this gift of Rose that continues to weave into the fabric of our lives. As many know, Jo began an energy exchange with the essence of Rose back in April, and it’s taken us a good six months to better understand and assimilate this multi-faceted experience into our marriage and family.

Jo began doing private readings for friends almost immediately, short ones at first, and then longer as she grew more comfortable and confident with the exchange. In October, she had a private session with our friend Joyce Kovelman. Since Joyce has  Ph.D.s in psychology and neuroscience I was fascinated to observe Rose engage Joyce. After the eighty minute session, Joyce was so impressed that she offered to gift Joanne with a Crone Ceremony, a rite of passage for woman who are “around fifty years or older.”

Joyce had been honored with a Crone Ceremony on her 65^th birthday, and wanted to transmit the experience to Joanne. As we are now entering a stage of life in which we’re old enough to be grandparents, our priorities and purpose are shifting accordingly. It is common in our culture to fear aging and death. In fact, we live in a culture that glorifies the beauty of youth over the wisdom of age. So we wanted to redefine this and use the Crone Ceremony to celebrate the arrival of the wisdom years, and simultaneously honor our ancestors. So many of us in the United States are dissociated from our family lineages, so the ceremony served as a way to reconnect with those who came before us, and helped to make our current lives possible.

Joyce offered to host the ceremony at her lovely house in Chatsworth, California, and since Jo’s mom comes out to visit this time of year from Evansville, Indiana, we held it this past weekend. Seventeen people attended physically, and about a dozen others participated virtually by sending Joanne best wishes and/or a gift to mark the occasion. The ceremony consisted of Joyce serving as a minister and going around the circle of participants two times. During the first, we all honored our ancestors and spoke the names of our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents while lighting a votive candle. This is a wonderful practice, because it connects us to our family lineages in ways that pretty much have been lost in the United States, a country consisting of immigrants who left families behind in the “old country” and over generations have gotten out of touch with our roots.

In the second pass around the circle, we each took turns in walking up to Joanne, who was sitting on a “throne” of sorts, and honored her in whatever ways spirit moved us to. It was a very moving way to connect to her within our own small community. The final part was opening gifts and reading well wishes sent from as far as the UK, Canada, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Then we broke for a delicious catered dinner and desert.

I am including the lovely words Joanne read to close the ceremony since they capture the essence of the experience. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, so to speak, and even Jo was very emotional as she expressed her deep appreciation and gratitude for having so many wonderful things in her life.

“This ceremony has given me a great deal, from the moment Joyce suggested it. I want to thank you, Joyce, for this beautiful day, and for the opportunity to learn from you. You’re bringing into the world a sacred feminine lineage that is the heritage of all of us, regardless of gender, bloodlines or even written texts, for all knowledge is held safely in consciousness, available to all who hold the keys. I hope to continue in your footsteps of helping to birth a brave a new world.

“I honor my mother, for birthing me in physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual ways. I was born on a Saturday, like today. You’re here for my rebirth and are birthing me again, in important ways. I hope to make the best of the things you’ve instilled in me: a sense of creativity, of religion, of the sacredness in small things, and questioning authority. Thank you, Mom. I honor my father, who couldn’t be here today, physically speaking, but is here in spirit. I honor my fathers and grandfathers, because men are an important part of the process. I come from a long line of them!

“Thank you, Paul, for everything: your support, your love, and for allowing an additional person into our marriage. I’m so very grateful to have you in my life. Please say you’ll stay with me for another fifty years. (To which I replied, “If you’ll have me.”)

“To my friends and family, especially to you who knew how important it is to me, I’m so very honored by your presence and your many gifts today and always. I don’t feel completely deserving, but I’m working on that! Your being in my life helps me heal very deep parts of myself and your support is critical to me. I feel that I’m finally in the community that I’ve missed for most of my life, so my relief and gratitude goes very deep. That’s why I wanted this day to be extra special.

“When I got to thinking about today, I wanted it to be wonderful in every way, and to include the symbols that communicate its mystery and meaning. I knew this is what Joyce meant when she said to “make it mine.” My chair is decorated with pictures of birds, animals, and trees, to represent all the things of nature, to be respected and protected as if they were all my own children. And in many ways, they are.

“The food and beverages represent joy, abundance and communion in the most sacred sense. The cake symbolizes my self that I share with you, with colors and patterns representing my Sumilda jester and Borledim nurturer selves. When you eat the cake, which is chocolate with chocolate mousse filling by the way, representing the Goddess, symbolically you are bringing my self, my body, my intent, into your own. Interesting imagery eh? But why not represent the sharing of myself in my community? Why not emulate the great traditions of the Egyptians with their depictions of Osiris and Isis, and the Catholic traditions of the body of Christ? Why not savor me, and my greater self, or any other individual in our world? Doing so acknowledges my presence, my intentionality, my gifts to you, and my purpose in life:  to share the truth of our divinity and nurture the world. We are all divine and we can share our fealings [a neologism fast becoming a trademark of Rose which combines the words “feel” and “real”] about ourselves in ways could be found truly heretical. Let us work and play together to recreate these traditions in ways that take the best of the best, finding sacred in the secular, in the average and every day, assuring that the knowledge of sacredness of all things is imbued in our every breath. What a sweet thing that is, and what a better way to celebrate than to stop and smell the roses?

“And then, of course, there are the roses. I’ve always been a little crazy about roses, since discovering them in my mother’s and grandmother’s gardens, playing among them, doing what would be considered the best form of worship: having fun. And the roses bloomed for us in a big way this April, when I got the great teacher that I’d petitioned for in consciousness. Her loving presence has led me on a most magical, healing journey that has helped me make sense of my life, make pieces fit, to resolve issues in most poetic ways, and to be a better person. I not only have discovered this channeling gift, but realized how it has always been mine, and that it will always be. Because I know she’ll never leave me.

“And so, I wish to honor my realization of Her, my sweet Lord, my Lover, my Reverend Mother, my Rose. Words can’t express the gratitude I feel for having Her in my life the way I do now. The only way I can do that is to share Her with you, and to help you remember that your Roses, your essences, are always there for you, too. It’s merely a matter of knowing how to hear them and act in the world. And that is my bliss, my intention, my gift, and my vow, until I take my last breath: to help anyone with the desire to connect most directly with essence, to do so. And I know what we’ll discover together: ourselves—our greater selves who were always there, always will be—and in the remembrance of that, there is no need to fear.

“And so I share the Roses with you to symbolize your connection with me, with all of us, with essence, with Rose, and with All-That-Is, because this is what I’m learning: that you are me, and I am you. You are my teachers as well as Rose, as are the beautiful flowers, trees, birds, and creatures of the world. I look forward to a long and wonderful life with you, my friends and family. Thank you.”

What made the event even more special was the fact that Jo held her first public Rose session after dinner, and was well received. Rose opened with some comments and then opened the floor to questions. It lasted just over an hour, and we’ll transcribe the session and make it available in the coming weeks, along with some pictures and video.

Finally, I wanted to include links to a special DVD I made to honor Joanne and her transition into the Crone stage of her life. We weren’t able to watch it at the ceremony due to a technical glitch, so I wanted to make it available because it further expresses the way of spirit we brought to this wonderful rite of passage. It’s called A Kiss for a Crone, and consists of various pictures we’ve taken in the past two years on vacations in California and Maui, as well as some Kosmic images that express the imagery in the lyrics of the original song by Seal.

Broadband (Best Viewed in Windows Media Player):

http://www.cafemuse.com/newworldview/videos/Kiss_for_a_Crone.mpg

56K Modem (Real Video):

http://www.cafemuse.com/newworldview/videos/Kiss_for_a_Crone.rv

(Most of the above pictures were shot by Gail Becker who also made Jo a lovely album and presented them to her a couple days later. Thanks Gail!)

"Wildfires, Families, and Stuff, Oh My!"

It’s Monday, October 29, 2007 and the wildfires that continue to burn across Southern California have persisted for nine days, though they are mostly contained. It’s been a surreal experience and hundreds of thousands of people have been directly affected. While the human death toll is very low, the amount of land burned and property or "stuff" destroyed is estimated at over one billion US dollars. While a billion of anything is difficult to conceptualize, the scope of the fires is also beyond understanding, covering some eight hundred square miles.

Try to imagine the Santa Ana winds whipping up gusts to Category One hurricane speeds (74-95 mph or 119-153 km/hr) and beyond on the mountain peaks. They began Saturday and literally rocked our house when the gusts pushed over 60 mph. The trees and shrubs were moving horizontally, with dust, leaves, and loose branches scurrying by like the Wicked Witch of the West. Complementing the winds was the drought that has left everything tinderbox dry. Together these conditions conspired to create a "perfect storm" for the wildfires, most of which were sparked by downed power lines (you’d think they’d invent power lines that are Category One resistant by now considering what was to come).

As the fire began, the winds blew sparks and fist-sized embers for a quarter mile or more and various spot fires broke out. Within thirty minutes there was no longer a single front, but a cluster of wind-driven infernos that intensified as they moved up and down the many canyons that surround us.

The first fire broke out Saturday night, October 20^th to our north and in Malibu to our southwest. By Sunday afternoon the main coverage was the Malibu fire because that’s where many Hollywood stars and other wealthy people live. But within twenty-fours there were over ten fire zones raging that extended some two hundred miles from us in the northwest to San Diego and northern Mexico to our south.

Once this many fires break out, as they did in 2003, the arsonists join the act. As of today at least two of the fires are attributed to my fellow human beings, one of which destroyed over one thousand homes and killed two people. The profile of an arsonist is dominated by very low development in interpersonal and moral lines, as we say in integral. So they are loners who feel left out, powerless, and angry. Thus they create their personal power from seeing the destruction their actions cause.

Some even have erotic connections with the act. That’s right, their fires turn them on, sometimes to orgasm, which makes sense in that sex is a stimulating, creative act that results and combines with the destructive power of the fire. Life and death, yin and yang, Shakti and Shiva all tangled in one glorious, yet juvenile, criminal construction that impacts others. As we say, there is no conscious creation without co-creation.

In the midst of this firestorm, with firefighting helicopters and tankers buzzing constantly overhead, I posted a topic on NewWorldView to capture what was going on here, as well as some pictures. (I also posted a video clip of Day 1 ~ Broadband and Modem56K ~ to provide some context.) It was wonderful to hear from our online friends around the world as the news spread. We had a rough twenty-four period where the fires were all around us and we didn’t know if we’d have to evacuate. As it turned out, the fires spared us in Castaic, and there were only three homes/structures destroyed and no lives lost, minor in comparison to other parts of the state.

Tom Sherlock mentioned that he was curious what Rose had to say about the fires, and while I had thought about asking, I really wasn’t in the place to ask directly and get enough material during the worst part of it all. But Tom reminded me that I did want to know what Rose would say and so Joanne and I held a session this past Friday once things calmed down and were mostly back to normal.

I used the session title as the blog title because it captured the essence of this mass event in terms very near and dear to us. The reference to "stuff" comes from a classic George Carlin routine that hammers away at the relentless consumerism of the modern West, and also seems to be common parlance in California.

As Saturday rolled around the change of weather brought clouds and two periods of rain! This was a pleasant surprise as the initial forecasts suggested the new front wasn’t packing much moisture, just a rise in humidity, which also helped the firefighters. But when those drops echoed off our roof I felt like we jointly created them, as many well wishers prayed for rain to help alleviate the situation. And while it was a small amount, it was a miraculous turnabout, a real change in the storm’s momentum. I knew in my heart that our joint desire to put out those fires helped to bring the rain. But I also knew with growing hindsight, that our joint desires had also precipitated the wildfires to present us with imagery for our own growth and fulfillment.

Finally, we know there are no accidents – there's meaning and purpose to everything under the sun, moon, and stars. In addition to helping us appreciate the many blessings we have, recent events nudged us to share this first full Rose session with you all, whom we also deeply appreciate being in our lives as extended family and community!

In love and service,

Paul

Participants: Joanne (Tyl) and Paul (Caroll).

(Rose arrives: 11:05 AM)

ROSE: We are wanting to speak about your fiery situation, so we’ll allow your questions if you’d like.

PAUL: Sure.

ROSE: We will say you do have a geanius (1) way of finding drama in your lives, so you’ll do well to include your bit about theatrics in your question.

PAUL: Well, the first question I want to ask comes from something Ellen Gilbert posted in a topic on NewWorldView that I’ve been using to update people on our status here, and she mentioned doing a nodi, a mass-nodi practice (2) on her own, in the sense of her perception was the need for healing on a mass scale, which then triggered an impression on my own part in terms of probing into the mass creation of these wildfires that continue to burn today, Friday. They’ve been burning now for six days. The word "correction" came up, it is a correction, a release of energy of some kind and focusing energy into other areas that if you just continued in your regular everyday pattern you wouldn’t do so, you collectively select something like this to reorder our priorities, what we appreciate and take for granted, and so on. So that’s just a preamble of my impressions of what we’re creating collectively and even personally.

ROSE: We’ll say you did do a geanius (pause) sense of finding an impression with your way of suggesting priorities. Indeed, this is the point. In many ways the wonderful priorities you’ve made for weany girl (3) as well as her individual priorities would beautifully connect with essence should you pay attention. In this you learned that your wonderful priorities so want to continue in your lives that you needed to shake yourselves up a bit in order to refine them in some respects.

You also, weany boy, did allow a great many times in your thoughts to be connecting with essence yourself. Indeed, we mean yourselves, for you have a great many individuals who help you even if you don’t sometimes feel you do. We suggest you did allow some fear into your thoughts, so you found a way to treantea (4) your ideas hopefully so as to allow more possibilities into your psychological framework.

For you did need to shake yourselves up in a big way. You were not feeling contented in some respects. You felt as if you were working too hard, indeed you do, but you also wanted to share, in your terms, the way of spirit with other individuals. In this we mean your Wildfire Media (5), there’s no accidents there in regard to your choices. So your Wildfire Media inculcates into your observances of your lives in a big way as well. Trust your wildfires will continue in ways you’ll find beneficial, even though it may not seem that way all the time. We trust you will.

Now with regard to your mass events, we will say you’re also correct in your impressions about your wanting priorities. In your terms, many individuals who were finding losses were having trouble with their lives in some ways. They needed to let go, indeed, in allowing your fires. Some of them died, so their choices were enacted in ways that would be somehow linked to other lives. In this they found refuge in dying, in your terms, but their neighbors found refuge in living. They therefore allowed a way to share, in some respects, the beauty that their lives brought them.

The way the wildfires were set was an act of terrorism. Indeed, local terrorists, not imported ones, were responsible for (pause) eighty percent of the damage. They did allow….

PAUL: That just blows my mind. I just have to say that.

ROSE: In terms of coverage, yes, eighty percent. We will say also they did allow a great many ways of spirit into their actions, for even the terrorists in some ways, we’ll put a giant disclaimer on this, but in some ways terrorists do follow their own ways of spirit. So while their actions are indeed terrible, they have some preoccupations that only allow them access to distorted messages about their activities they would find satisfying. They want the way of spirit, they can’t allow themselves the love, as well as sometimes great fulfillment, that’s allowed in connecting with essence. They only get partially close to their [own] essence exchanges. Therefore, they want only the worst forms of expression.

In this, they would benefit from a great book we do have in process that will allow individuals to connect with their essence. This is a weany girl plug for her book (laughing). We had nothing to do with this endorsement. (6) We’re joking, but in some respects, the way of spirit will assist in your wildfires, because they’ll allow only the most connected essences, in some respects, to respond in ways they’ll find most satisfying to the individuals involved. They’ll find that they will be allowing greater essence connections so as to follow their bliss. Indeed, there should be no terrorists in your terms ever, but they’ll always be some. They’ll always be terrible, so you can only imagine the future without your terrorists, but you’ll never, indeed, wipe them away completely.

The fires weren’t accidental in some ways, but in other ways they were. They were wanting fire, in your terms, because you wanted to start anew in some ways. You wanted to cleanse your California landscape in order to allow new growth. (A firefighting helicopter flew over the house as this was delivered, something we’ve gotten used to over the last five days.) This was indeed protected in some respects by those who wanted only some development. They didn’t allow the new growth to occur, hence your Mother Nature intervened. The new growth will allow greater allowance of realization of prosperity, in your terms, for the new growth indeed is for the rich, but it will indicate in many ways that the prosperous ones will be your local citizens without too many funds. In this, you will humanize your landscapes in some respects.

For why do you need such huge houses that have no social value, indeed have some value to families, but don’t allow social gatherings to reach out to your many needy individuals? Indeed, your communities would do well to begin to commune in your terms. Your houses sometimes don their cattle (laughs) in ways you’d call cattle-prodding your citizens into their pokes, for they have only commanded a range in which they feel stifled, as do cattle in your pokes. (7) So your cattle have said they want to mooove (Jo laughs) – M-O-O-O-V-E – into the areas of allowing more natural space, more communal space, as well as finding ways to downsize indeed.

The people who found themselves burnt to the ground will rebuild in ways that will provoke them to think about what they really need, not what they want. For they need to have humanly inspired spaces, not organized tract-homes that do not show any dominating way of finding their own expressions. They wanted to be done with the homes, in some respects, so they found a way to do so.

This doesn’t mean they didn’t suffer. They did, but their essences were indeed allowing their best expressions to bloom. Indeed that’s always a big thing to get past – that your essences don’t allow anything they can’t handle along with you. Indeed, they’re always finding ways to assist even though it sometimes doesn’t feel this way. So trust their essences were involved totally in the expressions.

We’ll allow your next question Caroll.

PAUL: I’m also curious about the impact, you mentioned the impact on the economy and even the psychology of people, and what they need and want, and the housing market in Southern California is ridiculously expensive and so on. But also I realize that’s part of the creation. I’m also wondering about the wildlife. Something like 600,000 acres have been scorched, and so there must be an incredible departure of all sorts of wildlife in this event. And I’m curious how that impacts the overall choice in creation.

ROSE: Your wildlife are fine. They have been excellently extinguished, in your terms, by your fire, but they‘ll be back in full force. They needed to protest the entire result of the housing encroachment on their territories. They needed to protest that. They need their space indeed. They will have it now that the fires will eventually allow less building in their areas. So they did a good job in their protests, for they were successful in driving some invaders away from their areas. They will find a greater abundance of resources by allowing the new growth as well.

So don’t fret about your animals. They’re fine, they never really knew what hit them. They did have a few moments of terror, indeed, when they sensed the fires, but they have their own wonderful ways of finding that the way of spirit allows them to not suffer. They have a way of finding their inner spirit animals, if you will, to help your animals get through the trying times. They have inner resources, as you do, that kick in when the alerts don the hats of emergencies. They don’t worry. They don’t worry especially about death. They have a built in "suffering monitor" that kicks in when they feel under stress that allows them peaceful feelings. So don’t worry about the animals. You’d do well to emulate them, in your terms, for they know they never die. They know they’re loved. (Humorously) They know they’ll "be back" like your governator says. (8)

PAUL: (Laughs)

ROSE: (Laughing) So trust that they’ll be back in a big beautiful way.

PAUL: Great. The only other question I have is that I realized early on that this mass event was not about a lot of focuses checking out. There have only been seven confirmed deaths to this point due directly to the flames and smoke unlike, say, the tsunami event of several years ago or even Hurricane Katrina where thousands perished. So if you would just comment on… it’s certainly a release and transformation of energy in a huge way, and yet why was the decision made to not have that many people to disengage, which I’m very happy for?

ROSE: The excellent question is wanting another aspect, which was indeed, why did the fires take so many homes?

PAUL: Right.

ROSE: That’s the answer. Indeed, the homes were the thing, so to speak. They needed to be leveled. They needed to be sorted in some ways as well, for your homes were selected in a very specific way. Notice that the fire skipped some homes…

PAUL: Yes.

ROSE: …and took some other homes. They wanted that. The homes were the thing as well as a few businesses, but the homes were what needed leveling, not lives. Indeed, the reasons were priorities as well as finding communities as we’ve said. So that’s why the loss of your lives was so very minor. Indeed no firefighters died as far as we can tell. They were indeed excellently providing services in ways they’ll find resources to do next year.

That’s right. It takes this kind of disaster to get funding where it’s needed for firefighters. So this was also part of the excellent creation.

PAUL: Right, because we had the Cedar Fire four years ago in 2003 that burned nearby here, Val Verde into Simi Valley and went on for ten days. It was an incredible event. There was a blue ribbon panel that met with recommendations, some of which were implemented but many were not. So perhaps now some Federal funds, we’re spending billions on the Iraqi incursion, some federal funds will come our way to help deal with the situation, which occurs every year. But this is the worst with the Santa Ana winds and the drought. It was a "perfect storm."

ROSE: You’re correct that your federal funds are best spent at home. But what’s your home after all, your world? Indeed, that’s your home as well. So you’ll be able to count on one’s hand the number of things the government can do well. Reassuring the proud citizens…

PAUL: (Belly Laughs!) Thinking of FEMA and Katrina.

ROSE: (Humorously) …that have lost things in fires is one of them. So while your federal government will step in, they are only doing so much. Your California state is the, by far, best example of disaster recovery in your recent history. You showed the world how well this could be done. So you did! Your government was interested in assisting, so your California is a gold standard for your way of spirit. In many ways you’ll find a great home here, so trust that you’re in the very best state possible now.

You’ll see in your future that your fire will inculcate in some ways a new philosophy in your Southern California. It will be one of "fine ways" that aren’t as only interested in your rich. Indeed your rich did open their homes. They learned that service is a good thing. They learned that being served in a big way is a good thing. So your rich, indeed, weren’t spared the disaster. They learned in the process what it means to be a community. Indeed this is partly the allowance of your lessons of your fire. (Pause)

That’s what we wanted to say. The allowance is in your fire’s path, not your fire itself. It’s the cleanup as well as restoration that will hold the promise of your fires. We would also allow your questions if you’d like, Caroll. We will say we missed you again. (9) We want to speak with you any chance we get. Be aware you’re a very important part of this lover’s triangle, so trust we want you in our lives as much as you want us in your life.

PAUL: I missed you too. It’s good to speak with you today for the first time in two weeks with Joanne’s trip and the fires.

ROSE: Yes. You’re wanting another question?

PAUL: Just two comments for the record. The sense of community is something I’ve observed and heard about on the media, you know, people stepping up and helping out neighbors and each other and volunteering. In fact, there was one report in San Diego that the Red Cross had to turn away volunteers, and so on. That was a very nice thing to see.

The other comment, too, on the state, local, and federal level there was a great cooperation between the firefighting resources. Apparently they’re using similar radio frequencies now (unlike the first responders in New York City on 9-1-1) for command and control on such a big, big scale in the midst of something as severe and intense as these fires. You have split-seconds to make decisions to get resources and so on. Life and death decisions are being made every second.

And one minor problem of getting the resource deployed initially is that there’s military in San Diego, but they’re on a different frequency, and so they needed a civilian spotter in some of the aircraft and so on, and that took a couple of days to work out. And so perhaps that’s another silver lining in terms of all this wealth and abundance we have in this country. And yet, there’s still, even in this event, that frustration within the first forty-eight hours, and even with the howling winds keeping planes grounded, but still these other factors of just not being able to get the resource where it could be used. So perhaps that’s another silver lining in this creation.

ROSE: Yes, your communities indeed want to form in your governmental ways, so you are picking up on your communal ways of finding frequencies that speak the same language, in your terms. Your sometimes tribal agencies don’t allow themselves always to be communicating with each other. So your green ways (10) in your California in this respect will also serve as a gold standard for the rest of the world. Indeed, so trust you’ve picked up on another aspect of the silver lining in the fog.

PAUL: The only other comment I have is that I was struck last night by a ten year old girl who understood that she had lost her home but it was only "stuff." And she said… (Moved to tears) "My home is not in a house; my home is with my family and pets." It’s not the stuff! This ten year old girl got that, it was unbelievable! It’s just that there’s so much hope for her and young ones like her that got that. And I also got that her parents have instilled those values, so it was very moving.

ROSE: (Somberly) Indeed. That’s what we want you to tack up on your walls in case you allow forgetfulness, for that’s exactly what you needed to get to.

PAUL: There’s always such beauty like that in the midst of the horror, it’s so… the double edge is always there. So I was really pleased to see that story make it on the media.

ROSE: You don’t allow your way of spirit in your families sometimes. You need to realize that your families are extensions of yourselves. Your families are your bread and butter, too, sometimes, but in spirit they’re always wanting in ways you need to address. So trust that your homes are indeed your families, whatever way you decide to define that, for they will be there always as well as in your afterlives. So trust they are incorrigibly linked with you no matter what happens. We trust you will.

(Softly) Indeed, your home is your castle, but your family is your finding of your spiritual castle. So trust you’ll do well to find them as well as to tell them you love them. Indeed, your wonderful pets will be an important part of that as well. Indeed, you found beauty in your pets being found in your fiery ruins. You found beauty in the pet rescue efforts that would be considered miraculous ways that individuals find to realize the way of spirit. Indeed, for your animals are important parts of your lives.

We trust you know this, but in getting out of harm’s way you sometimes neglect the very family members we love the most. Indeed, possibly because they don’t give us much trouble. So they’ll be important as your individual lives progress. So trust they’ll always be there in spirit for you as well. Trust that your way of spirit includes a great many family members of all kinds that will always be there for you no matter what. Indeed, we will always assist in spirit.

Now we have one more thing to discuss today if that’s okay with you Caroll.

PAUL: That’s fine by me.

ROSE: We’d like to recommend that you take some time off from your work. We suggest you take Sunday off as you’ve planned, but also allow another day during your week to find a nice place to drive to; find a place to get away; get to a very good movie, something like that so you can enjoy yourselves. You need to get some relief from the stress you’ve been under. We wish you will.

We wanted to say that because we want you to enjoy us as well! It does seem like work having your Roses around (laughs). So trust that you can find a balance soon. We want you to know we love and want you to have very good times. So we will say adieu for now unless you have any other questions?

PAUL: No. Thank you for the advice and the conversation and the information. It’s always greatly appreciated.

ROSE: You’re very welcome. We want to say adieu for now, but will also be discussing things with you tomorrow if you’d like when we speak to Eric as well as Joyce. (11) We will have a good time then. We love you. Rose.

(Rose departs 11:45 AM)

Endnotes:

¹ Paul’s note: Rose likes to play with words and sometimes creates new, hybrid words to help break us out of our conventional linguistic patterning. So the word "geanius" is a combination of "genes" and "genius":

ROSE: Your word "genius" sounds like it sometimes comes from a source outside of you. But the genes in your body carry around information as much as we genius ghosts do, hence the word genius plus genes equals geanius. So your "geanius" would be defined as genius in your way of spirit that includes your mind, body, and the very genes sontering your beautiful essence in ways that provide introspective information that you would call inspired…. [session 166, October 26, 2007]

² Paul’s note: the concept of nodi was fleshed out at a Kris Workshop on June 26, 2006. Nodi are subtle energies that are not perceived directly through the five senses, but our inner empathic senses. They form an "invisible lymphatic system with nodes" between all physical forms. As such, they exist simultaneously inside and outside our physical bodies and space-time. Together they form "A large network of interconnecting pockets of potentiality... information, knowledge, wisdom of many different kinds... stored in these very many different pockets," and can be used for healing and other purposes. For more information see: http://www.krischronicles.com/ToolBox/nodi.html

³ Paul’s note: Rose lovingly uses the term "weany girl" and "weany boy" to describe Joanne and I sometimes. The essential idea is that we are learning to wean ourselves of fear and limitations.

⁴ Paul’s note: this is another of Rose’s neologisms. As a verb, it is the action of exploring additional probable outcomes to any situation, exploring roads often not taken before coming to a final decision.