The Rose List

I first became aware of Rose Rosetree through her interview on Buddha at the Gas Pump (Batgap). She’s all about subtle perception and healing and developing skills for same. Her tag-line is “Reading People Deeper and Healing with Energy Spirituality“

As I’m exploring models of awakening, I was fascinated by the idea that her “energetic literacy” allows a person to read if someone is enlightened or not. I know a small number of people who can see this and can help people past their last barriers. As this is a potent way to support others and opens the door to objective ways to study transpersonal development, the ability to learn it was intriguing. But evaluating such a unique vision is not a simple matter.

She sees the stages very similarly to how I do. But she determines the shift quite differently, through auras. By auras though, she don’t necessarily mean coloured light around the body but rather energetic signatures. Light is only one aspect of that.

She describes an enlightened person as having a “stabilized, habitual state of consciousness with certain characteristics that would be easy to identify for someone with Stage Three Energy Literacy.” She refers to “databanks” in each chakra and said they’d all be working well, are relatively balanced, and are free of “stuff” – her term for astral or emotional debris. The aura will also be permeated with the divine in some way and there will be a value of joy from that connection.

In other words, the personal crud is cleared and they are feeling the divine. A dry Self Realization would not make the cut.

She’s rather fearless about calling a spade a spade and tells it like she sees it. A few teachers she mentions as being enlightened but having messed up (including ones she’s studied with).  A few others she mentions as awake but not enlightened, even if they say otherwise. I’d agree there are some who have recognized the Self but not become it yet. I was such for many years. And there’s a difference between Self Realization and its mature state, sat chit ananda (absolute bliss consciousness).

At first, I wondered if she was reading sattva development rather than atman. But her comments suggest more. “Permeated with the divine in some way” suggests a deep perception. Earlier, I had the impression that there was a standard underlying energetic process in enlightenment. The chakras are awakened and we connect with source in the crown. Advanced stages unfold during a decent. Some teachers and kundalini traditions follow this model. However, others experience the stages during the rise and there are kundalini traditions that support that as well. And so on. She has apparently recognized this variety in the results.

The List
The result of her reads is her Enlightenment Life List, people she’s rated as Enlightened by the above criteria. Unexpectedly, it includes some famous people like Obama, the Clintons, and George Clooney. Shades of Men in Black! (laughs) From comments, it would seem that being in the larger public eye can raise someones consciousness. (a group consciousness effect?) But I’ve never explored that. In most cases I’ve seen, people who are enlightened know they are. I have met a few who were unsure. But once verified, their progress accelerated.

Rose indicates that when she started expanding the edge of energetic literacy into enlightenment, she didn’t meet the standard herself. Also, as she’s more heart driven, there is less conceptual precision. Plus it’s kind of an organic unfolding like this blog, rather than a presentation of a fully formed teaching. But as Rick Archer (Batgap) said to me, “she’s a sweetheart, making her much-needed contribution.“

Of course, making pronouncements about others is tricky territory. David Hawkins, of Power vs Force fame, is notorious for having rated many famous teachers, all of whom he rated as lower than himself, save Jesus. His ratings are considered infallible by himself & adherents. (he’s a no on Rose’s list) There are also some guru rating sites that are essentially trash-em lists.

Rose’s approach doesn’t fall into these traps but is instead a simple is or isn’t (yet). She says it’s about clarity rather than judgment. And offering examples for students to read. But a few issues still come to mind. For example, it’s not the person who is enlightened. It is the Self that wakes up to itself, through an apparent person. Making a list of names points to the person. But addressing that requires only a caveat. She talks about some of this here.

It’s useful to note here that she differentiates Householder and Renunciate enlightenment. A renunciate is Neti Neti (not this, not this) oriented whereas a householder still very much engages their person as an aspect of their expression. If this difference isn’t clear and a householder tries to play a middle ground, they succeed at neither. I’ll write more on this later.

Secondly, her process is by perception which can be fallible. The perception is also reading the effects of awakening not the awakening itself. She does however mention a few exceptions who appear to meet criteria but have issues that overshadow that development. She also notes it’s her read and opinion. No absolutes stated. That’s a good sign.

Clearly, it depends on the skill and experience of the reader. As I don’t have these skills, I’m keeping an open mind to get a better sense of what this is. I’ve bought her book Aura Reading Through All Your Senses but have just started it. She’s since recommended more recent books to me, like Read People Deeper. Thus, this article is more a work in progress than a review.

Here’s a good article on how her outlook evolved. She also talks about what she sees as the 10 most significant things about enlightenment there.

Meanwhile
Meanwhile, I commented on her blog a few times. One she quite liked and moved forward to a more recent post, then offered to read me for her list.

I found the exercise interesting as it looks to the question from a different angle than usual and confirms a couple of subjective impressions.

As prior posts mention, I’ve stayed pretty low key about who I am here, for various reasons. And awakening really isn’t about a person anyway. So it was a consideration if this was even appropriate. But now I sit at #180 on her list. (laughs)

I’ll do some more reading & exploring before I have better handle on the techniques she teaches. She certainly has a unique vision and some excellent insights. If her processes are as effective as she suggests, they could be quite useful in a number of ways.

Meanwhile, we’ve exchanged blogroll links. 
Davidya

What is Consciousness Published

I do almost no publicity or networking for this blog. It has grown by word of mouth and happenstance. Until recently, I blogged under an alias.

A few months back, I was invited to contribute an article to Science to Sage on-line magazine in an issue themed on consciousness. This issue was delayed a couple of times but has finally been published.

As a benefit to readers, the editor has invited me to send a link to the magazine issue for my readers for free. The issue is normally $8.

The issue is a wide-ranging smorgasbord and very graphical. I’ve not read the other articles yet and certainly don’t endorse the other content. But you may enjoy a browse. Other contributors include Eliza Mada Dalian, Bruce Lipton, Austin Vickers, and Dean Radin.

My article begins on pg. 104. A PDF (3MB) with the cover pages and just my article is here. I also posted the article in February as a three-parter beginning here.
Davidya

What do Concepts Feed?

This blog is all words. Words are symbols for concepts.
“Taking concepts to be reality. That’s the basic human dysfunction that we call maya or illusion or original sin…  we form all these concepts in the head, and then we take the concepts to be reality. And the concepts are words about reality at best…”
– Francis Bennett (1:09)*

In other words, if I feed your concepts that create barriers to what is here, this blog fails. But if the words here offer pointers that help you recognize what is already here, it succeeds.

“Peace will come one enlightenment at a time.”
–John Mark  (1:32)*

*Both in an interview by Rick Archer on Buddha at the Gas Pump.
Both bring a Christian perspective to the enlightenment discussion.
Davidya

Front Row Seat

Imagine you’re watching a play at the theatre. It is a vast spectacle and you have a front row seat. In fact, that play is a custom play, written and performed just for you. While the audience feels very large, there is only one watching. The play is called “My Life.” In spiritual parlance, this experience is called witnessing.

This play is unfolding simultaneously with billions and billions of other such plays and they’re completely interconnected. No play could go on without all of them. The actors on your stage are, at the same time, also at play in others plays. When they leave your stage, they enter the stage of others. Even death is just a change of act, a brief curtain call. As in the film Cloud Atlas, we begin the next act in a new but related role. And you, in your front row seat, are also on your own stage and the stage of everyone else in the play.

This play is unfolding at all scales. From galaxies to stars to animals to bacteria to atoms. The stage extends in all directions for eons. The billions of sets have an unimagined complexity. Plus, it is unfolding not just here in the vast physical world but on multiple layers of reality that interpenetrate each other, even in your play. In other words, there are actors you don’t necessarily even see. And there’s other universes as well.

Because there is only one watching, there is really only one play. In Sanskrit, they call it Lila. But because of the complexity on the stage itself and the diversity of perspectives, it has the appearance of many, many unique plays. Other beings experience your stage quite differently, be they bird or angel. The play has laws or rules of the game, though those rules may depend somewhat on what act you’re in and who’s present on stage.

While some may discount such ideas as “intelligent design,” creationism, and faith-based nonsense, what I describe is actually a direct experience at a specific stages of development. But this doesn’t discount evolution in the slightest. Notice I said stages of development. It’s both.

Whosoever thinks it’s all an accident has not yet seen the script. Or the author.
Davidya

Holy Now

There is a curious gap in western spiritual dialogue. We talk of awakening and we talk of oneness. What of the awakening heart and the unfolding of celestial perception known as God Consciousness? We have great examples from the poetry of Rumi or William Blake but what of modern renditions? Not so well known.

While thousands have awoken, many are only just beginning to discover what comes next. Here’s a lovely example from Peter Mayer, Holy Now.

Here’s a link to him singing it live.

His web site

Souls, Groups, and Flames

An interesting discussion came up in a forum and I thought it useful to touch on a few things around souls and soul connections. Not a topic I’d want to over-emphasize, but it’s useful to have some clarity.

Souls
I’ve discussed the soul on this site a few times, such as in Seat of the Soul or the Soul’s Past. There are other things people may point to and call the soul but to me, it’s the golden-white light in the heart space. It is connected to the divine with a silver thread out the top of the head and leaves the body when it dies. All life-forms have one to some degree.

The life force (prana, chi) expresses itself through various means, including energy centres and our physiology. As the first link above talks about, there is also a life-spark in the head. Yogananda called this the soul. To me, the soul is the larger light in the heart.

Name
Each soul has a name, an energetic or vibratory signal that may be heard or felt. It is quite unpronounceable with a mouth and is much more subtle than a spoken word. This has also been called the “true name” and our given names curiously often reflect phonemes from it. This is also distinct from different kinds of spiritual names but again, there can be a connection.

Soul Groups
While the karmic connections between souls are complex and intertwined, we typically will travel through lives with some people from a shared journey. Sometimes the connection is driven by resolving incomplete desires and feelings from prior time together. Sometimes, we’re brought together in shared purpose. Or both. We tend to feel a resonance or sense of connection with people in our soul group, like they’re familiar before we get to know them. But if not, circumstances pull you together until you do. If the connection is strong, it may bring with it expectations of who they are from the past. But their present life may or may not reflect that.

In his Essene Mirrors talk, Gregg Braden points out that attraction does not necessarily mean you should have an intimate relationship. It may simply mean there is something to resolve between you. Or they can bring you the key to the next step in your growth. Resonance with an awake person is also a great way to awaken spiritually.

Of course, there can also be relationships that show up to resolve karma that may not have a soul group connection. And you’re more likely to connect with your group when you’re living to purpose.

Twin Flames and Soul-Mates
I’ve heard a lot of nonsense and variability around these terms. Some use “soul-mate” to mean a good friend or wife. Or to mean our “one true love.” I use the term soul-mate to describe souls we have a strong, close resonant connection with. Someone we have a lot of ancient history with. As such, we can have several soul-mates. They may not become lovers. They may not be at the same point in life or even on the same plane of life as we are. But the connection will be strong. They may even push buttons for us and find us both attracted and repelled.

If we long for “the one true love”, I would suggest that is actually the Divine as no human can ever do more than be a vehicle for Divine love. A relationship based on that makes for a wonderful connection but we’re recognizing the Divine in each other, as the Namaste greeting represents.

Similarly, some describe our “twin flame” as the one true love. That is rather idealized, unfortunately. Love is boundless and eternal so is never limited by this or that form. Along with the twin flame concept is the idea that our souls were split in 2 and will never be whole unless we find our twin. Again, it is spirit that will make us whole, not a person. And the soul is a focus or spark of the Divine. It is never divided, spilt or broken. It may become lost to our awareness, but it is never lost to itself or the Divine. This is similar to the idea of “soul fragments”. We may certainly feel unintegrated, like parts of ourselves are spread about, our energy scattered through time and space. But the soul itself remains undivided. (“he who should not be named” included)

While I’ve not experienced this fully, the experience suggests your twin flame is born together with you as a pair and your lives flow juxtaposed and balanced. Just as there is a thread that rises out of your crown to connect you to the Divine, so too there is a thread from the heart connecting you with your pair. This does not however mean you’ll spend a lot of lives together. Only that you’ll balance each other. As another observed, we’ll usually be better able to serve apart from each other or we won’t be balancing. One fellow suggested you’d know each other in only about .3% of lives and have an intimate relationship in a fraction of those. Can’t speak to the accuracy of that and I’m sure it varies, but it gives you an idea. Another idea is that the twin flame shows up in your final human lifetime.

It’s worth noting that some people are “fallen” angels. As such, their twin may be an angel. That certainly limits the relationship possibilities. 

Again, this does not mean you cannot have profoundly intimate and loving relationships with a soul-mate or 2. But if we really want the eternal juice, we’ll only find that in the Divine.

Guardians
Guardian angels are other beings that we have a long soul-level relationship with. Friends Forever we can count on. They are themselves part of groups or teams with a hierarchical structure rising to the Divine. But their work is with us. Clearly, life is a sea of interconnectedness in a field of oneness.

How could it be otherwise? 
Davidya

Emotions and Energy

When I read about Non-Violent Communication (NVC) in the past, I saw it as a way to help resolve conflict between groups. I hadn’t seen it as a healing tool, especially not for self-talk. But it’s actually excellent for getting clear in communication in general, including with yourself. What are the facts and feelings, what is the judgement and blame? And how can we meet needs and come to satisfaction? (I review the steps here)

Another key point is that if you try to “figure out” what will make you happy with logic (left brain), you’ll likely miss the target. This is because our emotional needs are emotionally driven. We have to use feelings to identify the unmet needs. You CAN get satisfaction, in spite of what Mick Jagger sang.  

Recently, I took an NVC-based workshop. It included some of the science behind our emotional state. For example, the Vagus nerve running in front of the spinal column has 3 channels.

The Dorsal, closest to the spine, drives our Freeze response. It mutes our response time and brings emotional states like shame, sadness, overwhelm, and confusion. We also go there when we’re badly injured. External symptoms include loss of muscle tone in the upper back and difficulty meeting people’s eyes (it’s not just psychological). Broadly, we tend to feel numb and disconnected from the body.

The second channel is our Fight/Flight alarm channel. That can express as anger, frustration, and so forth. Blood rushes to the limbs and away from the prefrontal cortex (higher mind) and digestive system. We become faster but stupider. Chronically, this activation we experience as anxiety.

You can divide the “Feelings when your needs are not satisfied” from the Feelings & Needs Inventories (pdf) into these 2 channels.

The third or Vental channel is operating when we feel safety and are socially engaged. Our brain hemispheres are more balanced [and nostril breathing] and we’re face focused. Much easier to meet needs in this mode.

If you’re familiar with the 3 gunas, these easily align. Tamas (inertia), Rajas (fire), and Sattva (evenness). When this pattern shows up, you know you’re looking at fundamentals.

On a constant basis, our amygdala inside the brain checks if we’re safe and OK. If not, we shift into the first or second channels. The amygdala is what holds the emotional charge in memory. It requires a single exposure. It has no time stamp and thus creates an eternal ever-present past. And emotional charge. This is our implicit and largely unconscious memory.

Behind the amygdala is the Hypocampus. It retains explicit memory after multiple exposures that is factual & timestamped. It tracks them for 3 years until they migrate to the cortex as long-term memory.

Together, the 2 bring us both the facts and emotions associated with various memories. However, during trauma, the hypocampus goes off-line, leaving only the timeless charge. If we’re able to name the feeling state though, the memory becomes explicit & conscious. At first it can be a little muddled but it gets clear with practice and clearing the backlog.

We also explored the evolving understanding of the brain hemispheres. If we carry a lot of unresolved trauma, our right brain can become like a “jungle.” Thus, we favour the left and control, detail, and judgment or blame. It’s a way to resist pain and feel safer. If we become disassociated, the right hemisphere goes quiet.

From an energetic standpoint, we’re talking about the lower 3 chakras. Safety, emotions, and lower mind.

Parents who are stressed and action-driven are typically left-brain dominant. The left brain sees others as tools & objects. (objectification) They’ll see their child as a collection of tasks for them. Such parents will expect specific careers, good grades, status and accomplishment. The child will often feel unseen and unknown, not received. Many teenagers thus balk and rebel at apparently pointless expectations and unmet needs. If the parent is barely functional, we learn to stay small and disassociative in dorsal mode. The worst of course is when parents visit their traumas on their children.

It’s also useful to note that children don’t even have the left brain orientation engage until ~2 years old. It doesn’t fully develop until around 6 so parental feedback is taken in as fact, including any shaming control measures. We may learn it’s safest to be invisible by functioning from the dorsal. Self-shaming becomes automatic.

Other kids stay more in fight/flight and thus lash out at others, perhaps becoming the bully. They find it easier to be in hate than shame. Adults can be the same way.

With such examples, we have to relearn natural relating techniques. Hence the role of NVC. If we ask others for empathy when we’re not feeling alive and in the body, there is no one there to accept it. We’re energetically closed. We have trouble receiving and will find it easier to  give than receive. Often, we’re habitually trying to be invisible while asking to be seen so our needs don’t get met. We have to be awake and alive within to receive.

On the flip side, if we know we’re supported, it’s difficult to stay in shame or anger. Make sure that the people you hang out with can receive you, where self-expression is safe. You want 2-way relationships and you may need to learn to invite them. If you’re invisible (closed lower centres) you will be felt as unavailable by others.

When we’re relating and are not received (tuned out, subject change, talked over), how do we respond? Acceptance? Others may sometimes need a nudge. Do we repeat ourselves? Or do we ask for acknowledgement? If it still doesn’t work, there isn’t really a relationship taking place. It’s more like 2 toddlers who play near each other but have not learned to relate yet. They are together but separate.

The Energy Side
The techniques the workshop used to help heal skirted the edge of going into the mud of emotions. I would consider this the hard way. NVC is very useful for identifying emotional states. We can use them as signals for things to resolve. We want to allow feelings to arise and complete (resolve the charge). But we don’t want to wade into them – it’s a subtle but huge difference. Wading into the feelings amplifies them and can make them more real. For our shadow, it’s wading into the mud.

Emotions are the subjective experience of energy states. In energy healing you resolve the underlying energy blockage or resistance and thus resolve the resulting emotional effects (not to mention the karma). Thus energy healing is deeper and more effective than the drama.

When you learn energy healing, the first thing you learn is how to ground and not take on the energy you’re trying to resolve. Becoming more energy-aware allows us to resolve the root dynamics. While we still may experience a wave of emotion, we don’t have to wade into the trauma, just let it go. Watch it go by.

This process is also much simpler. For example, for a particularly big one, the teacher ended up engaging over a dozen other people as support plus engaging some role-playing. I can see the way this allowed the individual to feel safe and release, but the complexity and skill required to do such healing is much higher.

The exercises also made reference to being in the “resonant witness.” There was no inquiry or other techniques to make this more conscious and not everyone is aware enough of their own awareness for this to be valid. But being in an observer state makes watching the emotions go by much easier.

It’s also worth noting that if we learn to work with our internal energy environment, we can meet the majority of our emotional needs internally. They are simple energy states that can be adjusted with attention. I talked about this back on Feeling is Believing.

There is perhaps a ways to go from being deep in shame to being energy-aware and in a witness state. But having the support of others and some simple techniques can really help.

For a good introduction to energy healing, I’d suggest the Dreamhealer books, especially #2. His workshops are an excellent practical experience but are mostly in Canada.

From there, you can learn to feel and read energy and to ground and protect yourself. There are quite a few modalities around. Many such healers have studied several and integrated various features. But the key is simplicity. Energy is simple. It’s moving or not, it’s smooth, harsh, or sluggish (the gunas again), and so forth.

Most importantly, we can learn to heal ourselves.
Davidya