One of the characteristics of the human mind is its continuous search for “what’s wrong with this picture?” It is this ability to sense and see what is wrong that enabled us to survive and emerge at the top of the food chain. We survived through our enormous capacity to fear.

As we evolved and other parts of our rational minds developed, this fearful part of our brains remained. It is like the appendix that we no longer need.

We feared what was different. We didn’t trust the tribe of cannibals that did not look like us. They wore red feathers, we wore blue. We hated and feared them. They hated and feared us. They attacked us. We feared them more. We attacked them. They feared and hated us.
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So anyone who doesn’t look like our tribe, frightens us. They are a threat to what we think is the right way of life. We fear how they make us feel. A lot of this, too, is taught to us. Little babies aren’t alarmed by any perceived “differences” among people. They will smile at a an unkempt beggar and equally smile at a well-groomed socialite.

​Positive thinking will not get you to enlightenment but is often the outcome of enlightenment. It is a way of navigating through life to produce the best results for an individual. Often people will use positive thinking as a sort of magical incantation. “If I just say positive stuff and cover everything over with whitewash, I’ll get what I want out of life.”

True positive thinking is subtler than that. Through it we are entering into the causal energy fields of the Universe and through our vibrational output we can manifest our deepest desires. It is not a matter of our wrestling our minds into a state of submission through constant “positive” repetitions (though that is a helpful technique when times get tough).
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The enlightened state is beyond thought. That is because what is a positive thought to one person may be horrendous to another. For example, the thought of bearing ten children may bring joy to some and distress to others. Yet, positive thinking, as I said, is often the outcome of enlightenment. This is because, from the enlightened point of view, all is put together perfectly, does not need to be manipulated, and is just right just the way it is.

If you strip down every emotion that you feel, the good ones and the bad, you will see they either originate in love or fear. As Wayne Dyer once said, “There are only two emotions--fear and love. Go with love. “

Strip down the feeling of envy. It doesn’t feel good. You want what other people have and believe you won’t get it. You fear that you are not good enough. You fear that you will die and not fulfill all your dreams. You fear that the world is unjust and people who don’t deserve it get good things. You are in a ball of upset and misery and you fear you won’t catch a break.

Strip down the feeling of anger. It doesn’t feel good at all. Some people even give themselves heart attacks through intense anger. What is anger exactly? Fear that things aren’t going your way and that they never will. You hate somebody because you think they will do you harm. You fear them. You fear what you might do to retaliate. It’s not a loving state, you will agree.

Now strip down the feeling of bliss. It comes from your heart being open to the wonders of the universe. It comes from a grateful heart. It feels good. It is how you want to feel. You are in love with life!

Most people do not understand these opposing emotions of love and fear, so the self-help movement offers relief. They are plagued by haunting emotions that produce anxious lives. To get out of this mess, they learn to access the emotions they want to feel.
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As Wayne Dyer says, “Go with love.” You get to choose your emotions. They are not choosing you. You are the one who can open your heart to love and see all the good around you. You are also the one who can be a fearful wretch that causes problems for yourself and others. And that is how the self-help movement can help heal those who sincerely seek something better than a life driven by the fearful mind.

Consciousness does not fit into this model of reality. This is a model that presumes a Creator who makes things and sets them into motion to produce a product. But this view of the world does not apply to consciousness.

Consciousness is not the writer because writing is an active state. It is something we do. Consciousness is not about activity or doing. It is and underlying awareness of Being.

It is not a a story. A story is something we put together to explain events or to recount a happening for the purpose of amusement or education. It requires logic and creativity and activities such as writing or narrating. A story is a time-honored way of telling about our lives. But it has nothing to do with consciousness, which is the eternal Observer.

Consciousness is not a book. A book is a physical object. Consciousness is non-physical. It has no weight or size. Though ordinary waking consciousness can be destroyed by trauma and death, Cosmic Consciousness is impervious to any form of destruction. It is the origin of it all, through which we perceive the wonders of the universe. Each one of us has access to it and getting in touch with it brings peace and joy.
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But there is no story line, with a beginning, middle, and end. It is eternal.

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One thing that is factually true but still misleading, is the statement “I am.” Of course, it is a fact that I exist. I have paperwork to prove it. I have a name. I had parents. You can see me. You can feel me. All your senses can embrace me. And if you hurt me, I might bleed and I’ll certainly protest.

But who is this “I” that people see? It depends on the person I’m with and where I am. I assume roles according to the situation. I can be a disciplined teacher in a classroom setting or a wild dancer in a nightclub. Besides this, others bring their own conditioning and illusions into perceiving who I am.

They see a woman. According to what culture they have assimilated, that is another tag and label that attaches to this “I.” I add further definitions of “woman” from my own cultural background and family examples. These are just roles and structures and do not pertain to who I am as a unique individual.

So when I say, “I am.” Which “I” am I talking about? Do I even know? “I” is a blanket term for a constantly changing, entity of thoughts, emotions, and spiritual insights that also happens to have a body that is constantly changing. Yes, this thing called “I” is never the same from second to second. Things are changing, breaking down, building up, and always in a state of flux.
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What is ultimately misleading about the word “I” is that it refers to our physical form. It is not the “I” of the Spiritual “Great I Am.” That is eternal and underneath it all, the unity from which all the little “I’s” emerge and disappear.

One of the reasons consciousness is so poorly defined is because we cannot even agree on the different forms consciousness takes. We can break it down into ordinary, waking consciousness and Cosmic Consciousness. Then we must ask, “Does this apply to humans or to all living and possibly inanimate matter?” Finally we must recognize that consciousness is not a physical object that can be measured and quantified under laboratory conditions.

Ordinary, consciousness begins when we awaken out of deep sleep. Using brain scans, we can observe different parts of the brain “light up” according to how it is being used in this state. On this level of consciousness, we are aware of the passing of time, our goals and plans, our anxieties and states of energy and excitement, and our ego identity, which we have carefully constructed. All of this does not exist when we are unconscious, in a coma, or in a state of deep sleep.

Then we have Cosmic Consciousness. Cosmic Consciousness accesses a state of awareness beyond time. People who have been in comas and have re-emerged, or people who had clinically died and were revived, report this glorious state of consciousness. Mystics also access this type of awareness. How can that be measured?

This type of consciousness is beyond the human mind, which is what is trying to do the measuring and describing. It requires a common language and vocabulary that delineates non-physical states. Our languages, so far, have equipped us to describe physical reality, relationships, logistics, emotions, and are excellent for any number of practical applications. But they do not equip us to describe the state of Cosmic Consciousness. As the Taoists say, it is “That which cannot be named.”
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That which cannot be named, cannot be described or defined, and therein lies the difficulty in defining this form of consciousness.

Ethical behavior cannot exist without a moral compass. Our moral compasses guide us in our decisions about what is good and evil, right and wrong. For a person with a moral compass, it doesn’t feel good to do hurtful or dishonest things. Guilt and a moral compass go hand in hand. Our moral compass has been taught to us by our family and our society as well as what we feel, intrinsically, in our hearts because we have empathy for others.

Yet we can behave unethically and still have a moral compass. We know that stealing paperclips from work is against our moral compass but we do it anyway. Then we feel guilty about it or justify it in some way (I worked overtime and didn’t get paid, they’re so rich they won’t miss them, it’s too much trouble to go to the store and buy them, etc.). Even though we “know better,” we do it anyway.

Only sociopaths and psychopaths are without moral compasses. They do not think they are doing anything wrong when they cheat, steal, kill, injure, lie, or bully. They do not care about ethics and scoff at ethical people as being suckers.
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But ethical people, those whose lives are based on good and constructive behavior, always have a moral compass—even if they turn it off or refuse to listen to it. It is their alarm system that lets them know if they are on course with the integrity of their lives. They don’t want to transgress it because it is too painful for them to live with themselves. Yet, they, too, even with the strongest moral compass, can behave unethically and suffer for it later.

Let’s break it down into ordinary consciousness and Cosmic Consciousness.

Ordinary consciousness does not require time—rather, it is aware of time. Time begins when we awaken out of sleep and we are notice that it is passing. We have plans for the day, we have to eat, and we structure our lives around the different parts of the day. While we are asleep, we are unconscious and time does not exist for us at all.

Time for us, while we are conscious, is an endlessly passing, moving element of daily existence that also involves space. It takes X amount of time to get from point A to point B. While we are unconscious, either in a coma, or asleep, we are not concerned with how much time it will take to achieve our goals or to get anywhere. We don’t have knowledge of the passing seasons in our sleep.

Cosmic Consciousness, on the other hand, does not require any time at all to get “there.” Cosmic Consciousness accesses a state of awareness beyond time. It is a timeless state. Even the passing seasons and the course of the day are, within the Unity of it all, happening at once. Linear time is not relevant in this state.

You don’t have to struggle for years to attain Cosmic Consciousness and it is never a byproduct of how much time you put into it. Age, too, has nothing to do with it. Some people think they need to do a lot of penance, sit for hours in meditation, and go through lots of experiences before they can attain Cosmic Consciousness. None of this is necessary unless you get enjoyment out of it.

In Cosmic Consciousness time does not exist. It sees beyond change and fluctuations. It is an assimilation of the still, quiet Source of All Being. You see time as a human invention for the sake of communication and accomplishing tasks, an organizational tool. But it is not a reality in this state of awareness. This state does not come and go—it is eternal being.
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This type of consciousness is beyond the human mind, which is what conceives of time. A dog, for example, is not concerned about being late to a meeting or that it is getting older and doesn’t look as attractive anymore. Not one single creature in nature is aware of time, even if to the human eye they show wear and tear. Because of this, they are the ones that participate in Cosmic Consciousness most effortlessly.

Sometimes “twin flames” are called “twin souls.” Plato graphically portrayed the twin soul relationship 25 centuries ago when he described how Zeus struck the soul into two opposite halves, each to wander the earth in search of the other.

“And when one of these meets his other half, the actual half of himself, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy. And the reason is that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love.”

But actually, there are three types of soul mates:

Twin Flame: Twin Flames are very different and very rare. Twin Flames are two people in two separate bodies that share the same Soul. Twin Flames meet each other in their first incarnation so that they remember the soul frequency of the other being. They are then usually reunited on their last time to this planet. If Twin Flames meet before they are ready they can be the total opposite and not at all compatible. When Twin Flames meet and are ready for each other, it is the most enjoyable experience possible on Earth.

At this point, Twin Flames are almost identical. They truly compliment each other and it is a hardship for them to be apart. As an outside observer it is sometimes hard to distinguish the two people. They also have a very strong bond and often have telepathy with each other. Their lives even before meeting each other have many parallels. Again, meeting your Twin Flame is very rare on this planet.

The companion soul mate: A project-oriented love partner here to help you accomplish your goals.
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The Karmic soul mate: To whom we are uneasily drawn but from whom we have hard lessons from the past to learn.

All of the chakras are inter-related. Therefore, healing and cleansing the root chakra must involve balancing and cleansing all of our other chakras. But clearing your root chakra is a good place to start:

Breathe in and feel Source Energy of the Universe golden light move up to the middle of your hips, as it penetrates your root chakra. Your first chakra is located at the base of your tailbone.

Breathe out releasing tension and stress. Breathe in and feel the healing golden light swirling around your root chakra. Clearing out all that no longer serves you. Breathe in and see your red, root chakra shine brighter and brighter with every in breath. Breathe out and feel your red root chakra expand as it is cleared out and purified.

Breathe in and know that you are recharging your root chakra. Exhale toxins, blocks, and negative buildup that have clogged your root chakra. Clean and clear your root chakra now. Your root chakra is now vibrant, like a clear red stop light and glowing brighter than ever. Root chakra represents the grounding aspects of your life, in all areas of money, career. You are now cleared to receive money, success in all grounded areas of your life. Your root chakra is now purified.​

Now that your root chakra is cleared, you see and feel your red, 3-petalled lotus flower start to spin clockwise as it starts to activate. With every in breath, the flower spins faster and faster. Stay mindful of your breathing, as this is your cleansing and activating tool. Oxygen is universal energy. Take a deep breath in and out. You have now cleared, recharged, and activated your root chakra.