The Polaris Material

November 2009: The rage and movement surfaces

admin@polarisrising.com — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:26:00 PST

This month, the rage surfaces. Just like bubbling lava that’s been deep underground and now longs to surface, so too in this month will anything you’ve been keeping stored inside you.

Do you fear this? Do you fear that the inner parts of you that now seek sunlight are dark and should remain hidden? They are still a part of you, as much as the parts of you that you show yourself and others.

Now, while we used the word “rage,” it would be inaccurate and incomplete to describe the majority of what is happening this month as angry, or vengeful, or dark. Instead, we invite you to think of what bubbles forth into the sunlight this month as “movement.” Joyful. Opening. Inviting you into your wholeness.

This doesn’t mean that you will feel nothing but good feelings, although the more you invite the hidden parts of you into the light with joy and acceptance, joy and acceptance are what you will feel. But this is a process that brings up emotions and judgments that are connected to the inner parts of yourself you've been hiding. There are reasons you've been keeping them submerged — patterns you've become accustomed to using. Any time you are faced with elements of yourself you’ve been keeping hidden, you could experience resistance. Or feel shame. Or uncertainty. So, too, could those around you, who will be surprised at your new depth and may react with their own reactions to this new energy. But understand that these are their reactions to what they feel inside themselves, and have nothing to do with your relative goodness or lack of goodness.

Let’s explore the various ways that the rage bubbles to the surface this month.

Emotionally.

You may be feeling more ups and downs this month, wider swings. Understand this is a temporary condition. Neither your ups nor your downs are permanent, and its easiest to think of yourself as a net in the ocean, where the flow of the water, the dark waves above and around you, simply flows through you.

Physically.

Anything that is hidden under the surface on various currents of your physicality – whether it is in your circulatory system, your digestive system, your musculature, or anywhere – may be coming to the surface this month. This is an excellent month, then, to give yourself the gift of supportive energetic healing, to help this process in a smooth manner. Utilize whatever other supportive, nourishing therapies that most appeal to you this month. Immersing yourself in a bath that contains a few handfuls of natural sea salt is an excellent therapy, as are nourishing vegetable and high-quality meat broths and soups.

Relationships.

As we indicated earlier, any changes in you affect those around you. This is not the time to mitigate the experiences of the people around you. Try to allow yourself to detach from responsibility for their experiences – compassion is not the same as taking responsibility for another’s happiness.

A quick and easy visualization to perform this month to aid in remaining compassionately detached:

Think of several people in your life that you care about. Now thinking about them one at a time, imagine the connection between you as a shining cord. This cord can attach to you any number of places.

If the place of attachment is anywhere but your heart, remove that attachment and create another so that the attachment between you and the other person moves from your heart to theirs and back again. Be sure that movement along this cord runs in either direction; you can ask to be shown if it does not.

Perform this visualization with each person on the list you made several times this month.

Careers and finances.

Like everything else, money and jobs are simply energy. Anything under the surface in these areas also comes to light this month. This could mean anything from difficult dynamics with co-workers to Uncle Larry’s inheritance finally catching up with you. Think this month about your relationship to money, and try to imagine money – yours, or anyone’s – as simply energy, part of an unending source of universal energy. The more you realize you are tapped into part of an amazing infinite whole, the easier your relationship with money becomes.

You’ll notice, too, that your relationship with money has a lot to do with the relationship your parents had with money as well. Don’t discount any resemblance here, and allow yourself to honor the connection that exists here for you.

Careers are simply one way of identifying the Self. This is a good month to bring your various identities out to play in the light as well.

The World.

Volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and similar catastrophic events are but one way of the planet manifesting bubbling moving energy that moves to the surface. Depending on how easily and completely we as individuals release our individual tensions and long-held inner parts, the planet may not need to relieve global pressure in dramatic ways, but you could also see movement in the form of natural disaster.

Politics.

Again, inner dynamics come into the light this month, and we would say in some surprising ways. Look for big policy reversals on issues that have been a struggle for a long time.

Conclusion

You are not alone in this movement of bringing things to the surface. You are connected not only to one another but also to the larger sense of timelessness and placelessness that is your universal experience. Although your perception supports individual awareness, remember you are moving through this energy together. As one. And with the support, love, and guidance of one another and of universal source energy.

Arrogance Part 2: Letting go and healing

admin@polarisrising.com — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:40:00 PDT

This is Part 2 of the channeling of Arrogance, expanding the chief features of the Michael Teachings framework. For the previous article, dealing with a full description on the dynamic and energy flow of Arrogance, see Part 1.

We will start by briefly repeating what arrogance is and then move on to healing and balancing methods.

Arrogance is built upon the fear of vulnerability. We have defined vulnerability in the past as a "coming forward" with the complete Self:

It has nothing to do with allowing another person unrestricted access to your energetic core. Vulnerability is about bringing yourself forward as you are.

Healing Arrogance

In this case, and in the case of any of the chief features, when we talk about healing, we simply mean acknowledgment of that energy without the fear that it is driving you. It is awareness that heals, because within that awareness is Love. Trying to "kill' any source of arrogance within you is the surest way to create another wall of an identity, even more elusive than the first.

The easiest and quickest way for those using the energy of arrogance, whether it's cardinal arrogance or ordinal arrogance is simply to become more accepting of the reality of one's Self.

We repeat:

The easiest and quickest way to heal the energy of arrogance is to become accepting of your own energy — of who you are. The implication here is that you have to be willing to look at you are. From that perception, you must then be willing to work through all the judgments that you have about who you are.

There is a great deal of courage involved in the process of looking at who you are from a realistic basis, acknowledging the judgments that you have about yourself and simply letting them be: not running, screaming in the other direction. We do not underestimate the terror at the root of the arrogant. It's a difficult thing to do for many people, because the overall the overriding typical first response in arrogance is to move as quickly away from the perception of Self as possible — which then becomes either the cloak of invisibility or the wall of projected identity.

Even if there is some movement in seeing the Self for who you are, it is also very possible to simply change the wall of identity to a different one, such as being one "on a healing path", "a screwed up person" or even as someone who "has had an enlightenment experience". Either way, it's still an identity that isn't the totality of who you are.

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has fears. Everyone feels judgments about themselves. The more willing a person with Arrogance is to look at some of the realities of themselves and be non-judgmental about them, the easier it is to blur the lines of that wall of identity and to not feel the necessity to be invisible.

Healing Arrogance Aid 1: Mindfulness.

Mindfulness meditation is the most useful tool that we know of to consistently look at things — whether it's themselves, others, or the state of the universe — with nonjudgment and equanimity. Understand that by examining your physical body which is your tool for interacting with the rest of the universe with dispassion and without judgment — whether a judgment to good or bad. By employing whatever aspect of mindfulness that you can, you learn to stop looking at yourself with a state of judgment and to stop seeing yourself as eternally empty.

We also give a visualization to help this:

Aid 2: Visualization

With this audio visualization, we are attempting to assist you with feeling this sense of inner identity that you have as a person in different situation. This takes away the attention to the outer shell, it takes away the attention to the cloak of invisibility, and it allows you to re-experience in different situations the being that You Are.

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Aid 3: An Exercise with a Partner

Ideally this exercise would be with any person that you trust:

Stand and face your partner from about three to four feet apart. If you know that you are the person who has the energy of arrogance, then this exercises is focused more on you; your partner is simply assisting you.

Look each other in the eyes and imagine the connection that extends from your heart to theirs — and back again. Vividly see this connection, running back and forth to strengthen this connection.

As you imagine this connection that extends from your heart to theirs and back again ask them to say the following :

"I don't like you".

It is very, very important that you keep this heart connection at the same time they are saying this.

After doing this once, you can do this exercise once without imagining that heart connection and a second time while imagining that heart conviction, and feel the difference in your own internal response. The heart connection, as you will learn, your lifeline to a vulnerability that does not crash down your world.

You can also do the essential part of this exercise at various points in the day at any time you are interacting with another person, even if they are unaware of it. It can be your partner, a child, a parent, a boss or a colleague: simply imagine the connection that extends from your heart to theirs and back again. Again, it's very important to imagine the connection back to your own heart. Simply fixate on that for a few moments at the beginning of an interaction that you are having with that person; it can be difficult to focus on the entire time so it is fine if your awareness shifts. Simply imagine that: picture in your mind and affirm to yourself: "my heart is connected to their heart and their heart is connected to mine."

We guarantee that doing this will help you feel more comfortable within those interactions and keep those immediate protective responses that take you to the energy of arrogance to a minimum. In other words, you begin to be reacting less arrogantly in various interactions that you find yourself.

If you feel you are ready to listen to someone else's judgments about you — their perceptions about you — and if you feel that you will not immediately start piling your own judgments onto yourself as well, starting a "criticism fest" then there is an advanced version of this exercise that can be immensely healing and freeing within the confines of a particular relationship. It can bring you closer and help you be more true to who you are:

Sit in a meditative state, dropping the cares of the day.

In this meditative space, face the other person and concentrate on that heart connection that you have.

Now simply listen — without jumping to any conclusions — to one, two or three of their perceptions they have about you. Simply listen. Take it in to your heart, feeling that connection go back and forth between you again. Feel their perceptions coming in part from their heart, coming back to you to help you be in a deeper connection with your own heart.

We don't recommend having them make a long list, because you could end up getting lost and overwhelmed by it. Simply listen to one, two or three perceptions of theirs about who you are.

Listen to that and take it in without adding your own judgments, without defending yourself, and without doing anything in terms of responding. Concentrate solely on the connection from your heart to theirs and back again.

Allow whatever reaction that you have and do your best — simply in this moment ‚ to let go of any desire you have of anything different.

This is an exercise that we would recommend only after you've become accustomed to some mindfulness practices and after you feel comfortable being present with the energy of this person: trusting who they are and trusting the process in yourself.

Conclusion

There is the perception when talking about any of the chief features that it's a negative energy that has to be gotten beyond. Arrogance is an energy of movement. It's a more dynamic energy. It can be highly effective in drawing other people to you. Because of that, Arrogance is highly useful in anyone who is overtly teaching others. This extends to all kinds of questions from politics to medicine to the obvious self-help field.

In our experience — talking to hundreds of thousands of people in various energetic combinations and permutations — we've found that people tend to live happier and more joyful lives when they are simply aware of who they are, aware of their perceptions and allow themselves to become accepting of their perceptions. Looking at the multitudinous network of different energetic combinations in people, we see chief features as a harmonious pattern that evolves along people that's constantly flowing, moving and juxtaposing. Every one of the energies that a person might take on in a given lifetime has its own perfection, beauty and completeness.

The more you see the utter perfection and beauty of your limitations, the more you can transcend them.

Arrogance: The Fear of Vulnerability

admin@polarisrising.com — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:40:00 PDT

This is fourth in a series on expanding the chief features of the Michael Teachings framework. In this channeling, the focus is on Arrogance.

Arrogance is built upon the fear of vulnerability. We have defined vulnerability in the past as a "coming forward" with the complete Self:

It has nothing to do with allowing another person unrestricted access to your energetic core. Vulnerability is about bringing yourself forward as you are.

In Arrogance, there is a constant sense of defense against vulnerability. Walls are erected around the Self, often in the form of an image given to others, and much attention and focus is given to the creation and maintenance of this wall. However, when such attention and focus is given to a space outside the Self — unless what is inside is just as full and complete as what is within — then there will always be a pervasive sense of emptiness.

In other words, the person with Arrogance is constantly feeling empty inside. Because of this constant feeling of inner emptiness, there is huge fear of being seen and of being found fraudulent. The emptiness will be perceived by others. There is an awareness of the apparent discrepancy between this wall (and image) that is being maintained and the sense of emptiness deep inside the wall.

Manifestations of Arrogance

There are, as you can imagine, different ways of manifesting Arrogance. One is more cardinal (outward facing or extroverted) and one is more ordinal (introverted). Cardinal arrogance, or exalted arrogance, will have a constant sense of pushing outward to maintain that wall. A personality construct is thrust outward and an image is maintained strongly. Yet there is still always the knowledge of the inner emptiness and the fear that someone meeting that wall will see the inner emptiness inside — and therefore the cardinally arrogant person will be found fraudulent. The king will be found to have no clothes.

Ordinal arrogance is a little different. There is still the creation and maintenance of a wall, but there is not the constant sense of pushing outward to maintain it. The wall is more like a cloaking shield, giving the illusion of invisibility. The wall is a defense against anyone coming inside — and so the wall is put up hastily, at the last minute, to prevent anyone from coming beyond that point. There is a knowledge of where the wall would exist when a threat is perceived, but it's not a constant outward pressure. Instead, it's hastily erected in order to defend against a perceived threat of someone seeing that empty core that's always perceived as inside the arrogant person.

This is the root of shyness.

This wall of defense that the ordinally arrogant person uses can take different forms. In shyness, it's a retreat into that sense of emptiness. In this case, the ordinally arrogant person can only see that emptiness and assumes that everyone else can also only see that emptiness. They immerse themselves in the sense of invisibility that they have in being in that emptiness: They feel empty. They sense emptiness. They assume everyone else sees them as empty — and invisible.

On the other hand, the cardinally arrogant person is more afraid of being found fraudulent.

Ordinal arrogance is for the most part chosen by those already exhibiting more ordinal energy. There is no rule of thumb here, but in general ordinal roles or an overall choice of overleaves are more comfortable with ordinal arrogance. This is not always the case and not always tied to a role; it's an overall energetic choice.

Ordinal arrogance is still based on this pervasive sense of emptiness, but rather than it being a "defense by offense", which is the function of cardinal arrogance, it is more "pure defense" When an energetic assault is felt on that outer shell of identity, then the person who uses ordinal arrogance attempts to become invisible. It is a function of stealth rather than a projected image.

In these cases with ordinal arrogance the conscious awareness of the emptiness of Self is typically apparent more often than it is with cardinal arrogance. In the latter, the focus is on that outer shell of identity. Thus the person's sense of identity becomes lost in that focus. But the movement outward is always to escape that sense of inner emptiness. With ordinal arrogance the inner emptiness is felt because the persona is in many ways identified with that smallness of invisibility.

The Emptiness Within

Often the word "emptiness" is used more to relate to people with Greed, where an emptiness is attempted to be filled with more and more. The inner sense of emptiness in Arrogance, on the other hand, has to do with the Self — a feeling of emptiness about one's own self, it's value, and the identity as such. The emptiness of Greed on the other hand is always seeking outward. Greed is always wanting more and more of some thing, even if that thing is intangible, in order to fill up an inner emptiness. The fear of that emptiness in Arrogance manifests in two specific ways — the cardinal and the ordinal. Rather than a gathering of more and more experiences, things, or relationships as with Greed, with Arrogance there is the creating that wall of a persona (cardinal arrogance) or a focus on creating that wall of invisibility for protection.

The feeling of emptiness exists for both: in Greed the perception of emptiness is attempted to be filled, whereas with Arrogance the emptiness is attempted to be denied by blocking access to it. When coupled with Self-Destruction this results in very overt addictive behaviors.

How the Wall is Erected: Childhood Beginnings

Arrogance is created when a child begins to develop unreasonably high expectations for himself. High expectations are often developed when a child feels a sense of competition with others in the family. In other words, there is a constant sense of comparison between the child developing arrogance and other people around them, such as parents or siblings.

The energy of arrogance is often associated with damage to the third chakra. When the third chakra is damaged by other people around the child developing arrogance and if there is difficulty expressing the extent of the pain that results from the damage to the chakra (if the sense of competition is too great or the child is being silenced for any reason such as by power struggles) then the damage to the third chakra will result in a change in the child's energy flow. This energy flow, rather than being self contained, will always feel like the power center is missing. The power center relates, in the child's mind, to the sense of Self. If there's something missing in the energetic power center of the child, then there will be a sense of inner emptiness.

High expectations of the Self tend to be formed when there are frequent assaults made from another trusted person's third chakra to the child's third chakra. Because there is a desire within the child to maintain a connection to the person who is damaging their third chakra, there is a desire to please. However, because of the nature of power interactions, there can never be any true pleasing of the other, and so the child takes on this dynamic of power and competition and transforms it into setting very high expectations within themselves. This results in people who get straight As, become child prodigies, or throw themselves into anything in particular in order to excel.

Interestingly enough, it is from a sense of inner emptiness that the majority of people who excel in one way or another act, and they can never satisfy that sense of inner emptiness because their expectations are always set higher and higher, no matter how good they get at something. Understand that not everyone who has the energy of arrogance is going to be excelling in anything in particular. The sense of competition can sometimes result in competing to be "worst". But even without excelling, the dynamic is still the same: expectations, power struggle, and a sense of inner emptiness. The wall, this image of an identity, is created in part to be as big as the person that they are competing with, in order to be as good as this parent or older sibling. But at the same time, there is a feeling of certainty that they can never be as good as the person that they are competing. It's a lose-lose situation.

Relationships Within the Wall of Arrogance

In general, relationships with people in Arrogance can be frustrating if you are of a person who wants to have a very close, intimate relationship that's not also codependent. People with Arrogance want to be close, yet they have an intense fear of letting anyone see who they are. They become accustomed to setting up all kinds of defenses — or self-destructing relationships when they feel that people are becoming too close. In other words, they break up with people in a relationship as they advance on and become more intimate, or they completely shut down emotionally.

People inAarrogance tend to take on roles rather easily in a relationship: "The Protector," "The Nurturer" and "The Provider" are some examples. They take on roles and they find it difficult to move out of those roles. They tend to choose partners who help feed the identity roles that they take on within a relationship. They are particularly susceptible to performing the same relationship patterns over and over and over again. They tend to be the ones who have a pattern of serial monogamy, affairs, and have difficulty staying with one person for a long time — unless that person is very content with there being an element of distance or a power imbalance in the relationship. A person in Arrogance is likely not going to be comfortable in a long-term relationship with someone who wants a deep sense of intimacy.

Note that these generalizations only apply to unquestioned and unexamined Arrogance. You truly have no limitations. Chief features can be let go of — as we shall address later.

People in Arrogance can have very satisfying long-term relationships with other people — as long as those other people are they themselves comfortable with relationships where there is an element of distance. We know of very highly functional, long-term relationships where one member is an arrogance and the other person is not and is happy interacting with that image that's created rather than the person inside.

Yet Arrogance also leads to a strong disconnection with the Self. People in Arrogance can be highly functional and highly helpful to others — but they don't necessarily perceive that there is a problem or the nature of their sense of inner emptiness.

The Social Rewards

Just as with Martyrdom, there are social rewards to Arrogance in modern Western culture. Western culture admires a sense of being bigger than you already are. It admires the John Wayne swagger. It admires bravado. There is an element to the energy of Arrogance that has that — especially the cardinal arrogance that pushes outward. What is not seen on a social level is that fear of being found fraudulent. Because of this fear of being found out to be empty inside, the Arrogant person is pushing out even more, daring himself to do greater things and be ever bigger.

Ironically it's the most cardinally Arrogant person who is most in denial of the Self on an inner basis. It creates a lack of self awareness.

Within this irony, it's often the very cardinally Arrogant who lead self-help workshops. These people can be very much in denial of themselves, because they fully believe themselves to be the image that they have created. They can walk in that image, put a lot of energy into that image — or "I'm a guru and I'm helping you" — without ever attending to that sense of inner emptiness. The admiring energy from students reinforces the pattern of Arrogance and creates even more fear of others seeing the inner emptiness. Perceptions — and perceptions of students in that area — are therefore unconsciously repressed until there is little awareness of the nature of the Self.

It's not as if these people are hopeless and can do nothing because of this pervasive fear; in fact it often leads them to be very helpful to others. But there is always a constant, deep fear of being found out, even if it's on a subconscious level and they are unaware of it. There is damage to the power center.

Often those with Arrogance appear to have a very large energy and seem powerful. This is because of the model they had in terms of their own childhood and the relationships that they built based on their interactions with their family. They were trying to be bigger than them energetically because of that power struggle dynamic. This is the dynamic that they know in terms of interpersonal relationships, and this is what they will be focusing on and teaching others. In essence, even when the person with arrogance teaches very positive information, there will always be a power struggle.

We will give example of two well known personalities.

In our view, Wayne Dyer has re-written his own childhood history in his mind. That's the extent that the identity he has created for himself has taken for him. He will tell you, if you ask him, that he had a very loving heart-centered childhood, when in essence he had an emotionally absent father, a domineering mother and was constantly trying to be as big as they were energetically, creating for him the energy of Arrogance.

You can see this dynamic as well in the interaction with Esther Hicks and the channeling of Abraham. Esther uses a commanding big presence, and if anyone tries to come up against that image and the energetic wall built around it, she will immediately expand her energy (together with that of Abraham) quickly and violently to cause the other person to back off. This happens during both channeling sessions of Abraham and during Wayne Dyer's presentations. If anyone were to question him in a way that triggers doubts in his image or engages that sense of inner emptiness, then he would violently push his energy outwards and cause the other person to back off. This is the classic description of a "power game".

Question: What's the difference between helping and leading others from within Arrogance and helping others as you are?

Because the idea of being bigger than you are is rewarded in modern Western culture, many people are attracted to "larger than life" personalities. Thus there is a magnetizing effect for the teachers who have exalted Arrogance. The things that they could be saying may have great Truths to them. It's not as if their Arrogance is negating the truth of what they are teaching. The energy of Arrogance does have a magnetizing effect and allows others to see them as "larger than life" which fits in with their ideas of how the world should work and that they should be "on high". This in turn feeds the energy of Arrogance by having an adoring crowd of people who are very willing to buy into that larger than life image. It's a self-perpetuating cycle.

How does this differ from a teaching that is not centered around someone with Arrogance? It will attract different people. When you need to look outside yourself to find Truths — when you don't trust your own inner guidance — then you will be looking to someone who has a larger than life energy, which includes teachers with arrogance. There thus tends to be a pairing of Arrogance with other chief features which disconnect you from that sense of inner guidance.

When people feel more comfortable about at least checking in with their own inner guidance, they they will tend to seek teachers without much arrogance, who are "walking the walk" more and are more like themselves in terms of energetic structure, and who are more in touch with both their inner Truths and their own inner fears. As you all know, when someone is very much "out there" with who they truly are — including their doubts, insecurities as well as their strengths — then it will feel more ultimately complete. Especially when you yourself are more comfortable validating things on your own instead of looking outside yourself for the answers.

This channeling was split into two parts. Please now go on to Part 2: Healing Arrogance and Letting Go, which deals with various methods of letting go of the associated fears and learning to truly be one's Self.

A parable about art, beauty, and blame.

admin@polarisrising.com — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:12:00 PDT

From time to time, Polaris speaks in parables and stories. This is a wonderful short story about a brickmaker, art, beauty, and blame, which was told when a question was asked about the nature of blame. For your enjoyment, we've included the audio, so you can hear the story as it was told. It runs about 9 minutes.

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The story was transcribed below:

The Parable of the Brickmaker

There once was a man who made bricks. Every day, he vowed to make 100 perfect bricks. He made these bricks of clay, sand, and water. And every day he baked his bricks in the sun, hoping to achieve a certain sharpness to the edges and the corners: a certain sense of perfection.

Every day after he had made 100 bricks, he took the bricks that he had made in days past that were now dry, hard and ready to be used and he stacked them. He stacked them not in towers, but in intricate patterns, building an ever longer, ever taller wall around his home, which was also his workshop.

This wall began to take shape. It had form. It had curve. It had beauty. The man varied the pattern of the bricks, each identical to the next, in such a way that the light would fall upon the pattern of bricks that he laid in this long, sinuous, curving wall. The light would fall upon it and create patterns, pictures that could be seen when the light from the sun fell at a certain angle towards dusk.

The people coming from the fields to the village nearby would see this wall take shape and form each day, as they wound their way along the path that went past the brick maker's house. Every day they saw the form in the wall take shape - the light from the sun falling on the patterns of the shadows to create a picture.

At first, most of the villagers did not notice the patterns. They simply noticed that there was a wall. Then they began to notice that the wall had a pleasing artistic effect. But they did not notice the overall message in the pictures on the wall until the following year. As winter came, the villagers went to the fields less often. They stayed in the village more as there was no work to be done in the fields after harvest. In early spring, however, the wall had grown, because the brick maker had not been idle all winter the way the farmers were.

And so they began in spring - as they were now plowing and sowing the fields - to see the shapes that had begun to manifest in the long, sinuous, artistic wall. They saw themselves reproduced in the shadows in the patterns of the bricks. They saw themselves doing things that they did not dream anyone else knew about.

The Baker saw himself with his finger on the scale of the bread, making it weigh more and charging people more for a loaf that he would have otherwise.
The Miller saw his sacks of flour filled part way with sawdust
The Butcher saw himself carving up carcasses of dogs and other animals found in the fores,t rather than the fat sheep and cows that he told everyone his meat was from.

Everyone saw their worst aspects in the wall that the brick maker had made.

The villagers no longer wanted to pass by this wall - not at this time of day. They stayed later at the fields until it grew dark and came home weary, tired and frightened past this wall. One by one the villagers decided that something needed to be done, for each was sure that everyone else in the village could see his own worst attribute. Rather than change his attribute and become honest, forthright or kind, each villager decided in his own heart that, "no - what must be done is to tear down the wall." They did not speak of this among themselves, but out in the fields during the day when the sun was bright and their fears were behind them, the villagers did start to talk about the brick maker.

They talked about the quality of his bricks that was now "so much more poor" than it had been in the past. They talked about his kindness or that he was now charging more for his bricks than he should be.

They blamed the brick maker for their own fears of failure and of ugliness.

Even though they decided nothing outright, under the cover of one moonless night, they gathered beneath the wall of the brick maker in the middle of the night. Each villager had found himself there without knowing that anyone else would be there. Each villager saw the tools, hammers and heavy clubs in the hands of all the other villagers. When they saw one another gathered there, they knew what they must do.

They tore down the wall.

They tore down the magnificent piece of artwork that the brick maker had built. For, in truth, what he had built simply were patterns that pleased himself. The patterns were random: sometimes symmetrical, sometimes not. But they never meant anything in particular to him. They simply were pleasing patterns that made light and shadow, and broke up the monotony of a solid flat wall.

The villagers crept home that night, sure it that their deepest fears would not be brought to the light of day.

When the brick maker awoke in the morning, he saw the pile of bricks and rubble that his wall now was. He set out to make his hundred bricks that day. When he was done, he took some sand in one hand and clay in another, and simply brought his two hands together, forming between his hands the essence of what a brick was for him: something solid, something flowing - the two things that together create form, shape and art.

The next day there were enough bricks made for him to start again, making a new wall. And that's what he did.

Polaris concluded with a thought imbedded in this story:

You tend to see your own worst fears about yourselves reflected in a simple, innocent surface. Seeing those fears reflected and seeing them come to light is what blame is.

In other words, blame is attributing your own worst fears about yourself to a source outside yourself.

October 2009: Restoring Balance

admin@polarisrising.com — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:36:00 PDT

October is a month of restoring balance. September was all about uncovering things, buried facets of old patterns, but this month you’ll be striving to maintain order and find balance again in what feels yet again to be a very unbalanced world. For many of you, this process will be easy, facile, and unthinking, but more of you will likely react to the flailing efforts of those around you and strive ever harder to maintain your own balance while people around you are plummeting from their tightropes.

Let’s examine this tightrope analogy a moment. Most of you regard the concept of balance as being poised atop a precarious perch, much like a tightrope, and that within this confinement you must walk your path, remaining ever vigilant lest you plummet to your undoing below. But what if … instead of falling, you would fly? And what if in this flying you find new heights, new lovely vistas, as well as new challenges to surmount? We pose this question because we see that the majority of you regard balance as a precious commodity, one that allows you to remain safe within, again, the confines of your path as you determine it to be. But we challenge this notion, and instead invite you to see balance as a limitation. As a means to control yourself and your environment. As a narrowing of our own choices. As … unnecessary.

So while on the one hand you’ll likely be striving FOR balance this month, attempting to find a foothold or at least a toehold on reality as you perceive it, we invite you instead to let go.

Fly.

Let’s try this with a brief visualization:

Imagine you are, indeed, walking a tightrope. It stretches between two impossibly high skyscrapers. You stand at one edge, ready to walk, and peer down into the clouds below you. The other end of the tightrope is, as you know, attached to the building at the other side, but it too is obscured by clouds. You only know that you are to set foot on the rope and walk forward. There is no backward — not today.

And so you set foot on the rope, slightly slick with moisture from the clouds. You are afraid of slipping, of falling, yet you walk anyway. You want to. You place one foot and then the next, feeling your weight make the rope bounce a little. You stand there, one foot forward and one back, beginning to enjoy the buoyancy of the rope. And then you begin to walk again, fearing the slipperiness and the fact that you can only see a step or two ahead of you a little less now.

And then the unthinkable happens. Your foot slips on the slick wet rope. You fall into the mist. You scream but there is no sound.

And then you find yourself singing. Singing with joy, and with the sense of unbridled freedom. You are flying! You have flown before in dreams, but this is different, this is real! You fly over buildings and mountains and treetops, knowing you can land anywhere you wish to. And you see a place now, a gentle rolling hilltop with an inviting grove of trees all around. You land in the clearing. These are your trees. You have known them before. They welcome you as friends. You are there to rest. You’ll fly elsewhere soon, when you are ready to.

Do you see how simple this is? Try this visualization a few times during the month. It will help you with your sense of freedom about the choices you are making, and it will allow you to enjoy even the times of feeling unbalanced ever the more.

Going wider into the circle around you, we mentioned briefly that it is likely you will feel affected by the unbalance of those around you. (Do you now understand how they, too, may be flying instead of falling?) It is true that as a whole, fears mount this month over coming social changes, especially some severe economic changes around the world. On a personal level, letting go — as best you can — the need to remain balanced within this will help you. The rope you are on is swinging. Becoming accustomed to that feeling, even enjoying it, will help.

In addition to preparations for economic change, there will also likely be big “mood swings” politically in the US this month. Things that seemed difficult (health care reform, most notably) will become easy. Things that seemed to flow well could well become difficult. One big possibility is a flareup this month in Afghanistan.

Keep in mind that striving for balance is not the same as attaining it. Keep in mind as well that “balance” can also mean stagnation. Striving instead for the ability to flow with change is likely not only an easier task but also one that will serve you well in the future.

Martyrdom and Healing the Victim Consciousness

admin@polarisrising.com — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:52:00 PDT

[Channeled Sept 09]

The Michael Teachings concept of the chief feature, or "chief stumbling block," is loosely translated as a form of ego; a pattern that blocks your perception and awareness from the totality that you are. Every human being alive has chief features — most of us have several. All of the chief features are related to two things — the perception of separation and the fear of being fully oneself. Chief features are expressed in different flavors. One of these seven chief features is called martyrdom, and relates to what people think of as "victim consciousness." It is a common pattern of awareness, with over half of all people using the energy at one time or another, and somewhat under 20% using it as their primary defense.

The flavor of martyrdom is about an active self denial, or in more basic terms, becoming small as a habitual defense.

Martyrdom is an intentional denial of an experience or a result because the payoff in doing so is perceived to be larger than that which is being given up. In most cases the payoff is a validation that the self may safely remain small and behind closed doors. The person using the energy of martyrdom then does not have to present themself as being bigger. The payoff is a continued feeling of safety.

That is the primary fear behind the energy of martyrdom — the fear of bringing the Self out.

Marianne Williamson spoke of this dynamic, and speaks here directly to those who manifest the energy pattern of martyrdom.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Did this resonate strongly with you? Then you likely have some of the patterns of martyrdom inside you.

Childhood Origins

The typical childhood of the martyr involves a parent (or a member of the household) who is in general overbearing, loud, and of a very competitive nature. The child grows up feeling overwhelmed by the amount of loud energy. This loudness is not necessarily in physical terms (yelling, etc), but can be. Consistently, however, there will be a great deal of energetic noise. We're not necessarily talking about abuse in this pattern, but a large overbearing energy is required.

The person who chooses the energy of martyrdom is overwhelmed by this energetic loudness. The strong household presence also carries with it an expectation of competitiveness. The person choosing martyrdom therefore feels he needs to try to match that and compete somehow. But this overwhelming energy is so big and — being a small child — the martyr feels there is no way to compete with the energy. There is no way to "win" or to be as big as the overbearing person.

If the martyr cannot "win" in a competitive atmosphere, the next best thing is to be right. He can be right about his perceptions of the world and of the people surrounding him. He can be right about his perception of identity, which loosely corresponds to that of the "victim," someone helpless to his surroundings. By choosing the pattern of martyrdom, at least this can be fulfilled.

The person who manifests the energy of martyrdom will also experience patterns of energetic exchanges (beginning in childhood) where he feels his safety is threatened. This feeling of threat can be on a physical, energetic, or even an emotional basis. Such situations develop into martyrdom rather than into other chief features when there is already damage to the heart chakra, not only in the child but also to others around him — the energetically loud and overbearing caregiving adult. This is often a factor in why they are so energetically loud — it is a compensation for their lack of heart connections.

When there is damage to the heart chakra (or a closing of the emotional center) there is a tendency to feel disconnected from one's Self and one's desires. Having a desire typically manifests either from a feeling of completion and wholeness (the positive pole) or from a feeling of lack (the negative pole). The pattern of martyrdom leads one to only connect to desires from the negative pole.

The Payoff

Why would someone use the energy of martyrdom? How is this energetc pattern created?

Martyrdom allows an identity to be created using this energy:

"I'm the one who bears the burden for everyone."

"I'm the one that has to pay the price and suffer."

"I'm the one who has to do everything."

This is the identity of the martyr.

The payoff for this is in being right.

The martyr really just wants to be right. We use the term "self-fulfilling prophecy." When you create a self-fulfilling prophecy at least you get to be right. A broken clock is still right, twice a day. A martyr is right in that he inevitably feels violated and feels he has to suffer — because this is who he thinks he is. He creating this reality for himself; he becomes right about his identity and his perception of the world.

There is also an emotional payoff in being a martyr. There is a lot of cultural appreciation for people who sacrifice and give of themselves for a greater good, and this appreciation has been built into some of your cultural models of femininity. So when someone, especially a female, chooses the energy of martyrdom she is automatically gaining the emotional appreciation of those around her.

Effects

The person who uses this energy has difficulty saying he wants. It may be implied in the energy that surrounds him, or even in his actions and words, but it feels safer to him to deny himself something that he wants because it allows him to stay safely smaller within the walls around him that he has built.

Martyrdom is always a response to an influx of energy. The response is always a drawing in — a getting smaller. In other words, when someone is using the energy of martyrdom and he senses the energy of someone else, a situation or of a possibility, his first reaction to this new thing is to get smaller.

If you're around a martyr, you might feel and notice this in a variety of ways. Some typical responses:

Her voice gets quieter and with less resonance.
Her body posture collapses and feels like it is in retreat.
Eye contact is short and may be avoided.
It feels like she is taking up less space in the room.
There can be mixed messages of "listen to me" and "don't notice me".
Her energetic field is literally smaller. Typically, she will withdraw her field from her third chakra "outer identity" field (2-3 feet away from the body, about a full arm's distance) to her second chakra "intimate, inner identity" field (about a foot from the body).

This reaction of martyrdom of getting smaller differs from the chief feature of stubbornness, where the first reaction is to put up a wall and "make it stop." However the aim of this movement of energy — this creation of a vacuum — is essentially the same as the aim of stubbornness: it's an attempt to make that influx of overbearing energy stop.

What's ironic about martyrdom is that it does leave a vacuum — a place for energy to move into. Ninety nine times out of a hundred the response of the initial person, situation or possibility would be simply to move into that void that was created. Because the martyr wants things to stop and wants to distance himself from this influx, again the irony is that by leaving a vacuum he's just allowed that energy to come closer still. Instead of holding it at arm's length by coming out to meet it, he's allowed in to his personal space, to the second chakra level. That feels like a violation.

He isn't necessarily being violated. That's his sense of the situation, but may not be reality. If you leave a void it is going to be filled by ... something. This is a rule of the universe.

This is what causes others to label the person with martyrdom as a "victim." It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, in which the person thinks "I want this to stop, so I'm going to pull back and be smaller." What happens is the energy moves in and gets even closer. The martyr becomes even more uncomfortable and typically also angry and resentful: "How dare you cross my boundaries that I thought I had out there. You came in closer! I thought I told you that I don't want you coming in any closer!"

The martyr thinks that by retreating from his full and complete outward-identity boundary (associated with the third chakra) that he is leaving a sign saying "don't cross this." Instead, what he is leaving is a void — an empty space which the universe tries to fill with what's available nearby. There is thus huge miscommunication and misunderstanding going on with martyrdom, both with others and within the Self.

Again, the martyr creates a persona of being a doormat and being violated because for one reason or another, he feels so otherwise empty inside that he want to at least be right about something.

Within martyrdom, you have a feeling that you are being violated — but again, a violation is not necessarily occurring.

Often the martyr will explode with anger and resentment. He didn't expect this feeling to happen. What he is expecting in terms of the payoff (as well as being right) is emotional appreciation. "I sacrificed for you. I got smaller, which is my identity — and you're supposed to love me more for this."

Often people choose this energy because they are not receiving emotional appreciation in any other way. It is, ironically, an effort to be seen.

There is a lot of irony in this particular chief feature. It's ironic because the martyr gets smaller — but in his perception he is attempting to be seen more, or at least to be appreciated.

The martyr regularly thinks, "I did this for you."

Healing Martyrdom

It is difficult for the person choosing martyrdom to simply "be bigger." This brings up cellular memories of his experience with the overbearing energy. What is most helpful is to allow himself to be vulnerable.

Vulnerability — true vulnerability — is the ability to be complete and present within your personal space. [In general, this is the space around you that you can reach with your hands.] It has nothing to do with allowing another person unrestricted access to your energetic core. Vulnerability is about bringing yourself forward as you are.

Being complete within your personal space requires a healthy third chakra and body presence, because this is the gateway from which you fill your personal space. People choosing martyrdom will frequently have some damage to the second chakra, because that's the level people come and meet them at when they retreat.

It is difficult for the martyr to simply to be bigger. It is more frightening for the martyr to be bigger than it is for others. Vulnerability is sometimes overwhelmingly frightening.

Typically people who heal this pattern receive, as an impetus, some sort of an emotional shock. This shock can be in various forms. We can think of a few major examples: a near death experience, an "enlightenment experience," experiences of extreme essence contact, and anything else where they are truly feeling the safety and the oneness of the universe.

That sounds like it only works for a few people.Those experiences aren't typical and seemingly only happen for a small number of people. However, essence contact is always available. The martyr is not always retreating; it's a constant ebb and flow. Because it's a constant ebb and flow, the martyr is often big with energy and therefore very open to essence contact.

What helps a person in martyrdom is awareness of energy flows. This awareness can be built in many different ways. Engaging in activities that move energy through the body and feeling the emotions that arise when this is done is immensely helpful. In other words, practicing yoga, Qi Gong, Tai Chi or any other of these types of activities with an emphasis on what you are feeling emotionally while you are practicing it is immensely helpful. Because there is ebb and flow of energy — being smaller and bigger as a being — then the martyr begins to realize that this give-and-take, this sacrifice, is optional.

Any awareness that you can make a choice other than getting smaller is helpful.

The easiest and the most common way to heal from the pattern of martyrdom — aside from an energetic shock or enlightenment experience — would be the death of the person that was responsible, the "overwhelming energy" person of childhood. Many people, as their parents become elderly and die, undergo big changes. There's no accident to this. They no longer feel held by that big energy. They are no longer reacting or responding to it. It doesn't necessarily take the death of a parent but, as that parent ages and the dynamic naturally changes, it is natural for people as they are approaching their 40s and 50s (in what is commonly called the "mid-life crisis" or in Michael teachings terms, the fourth internal monad) to transition through life and become more confident and aware of all the gifts they have.

Martyrdom, in 60% of cases, tends to have less effect later in life as a natural result of becoming more self-aware. Often the death or major changes in the person responsible for its initial impetus will accompany this change.

Another healing situation for the martyr comes from putting himself in situations where it is necessary to be vulnerable in some way: acting, performing, speaking to groups, and teaching, even teaching one-on-one. In each of these activities, there is no "right" way to do them, and so there is an automatic letting go of desire. All of these activities help to bring the Self out and are helpful in healing martyrdom, especially if one can be aware of the energy dynamics that exist. In other words, be aware enough to feel the trigger to get smaller and simply choose otherwise. But again, becoming truly vulnerable and moving into that third chakra space can be more difficult for the martyr than for people not using this energy.

The martyr will tend to think of himself as small, unseen and invisible — when he truly he wants to be seen. There is a fear about being seen but he craves it. Are you seeking to let go of this pattern? We offer you an affirmation. It is empowering and invites you out more, helping you understand that you are interacting with the people on a powerful, larger level:

I am bigger than I seem.

Closing

While the words "martyrdom" and "victim consciousness" sound negative, we remind you that we see utter perfection in both this pattern and the choices that create it. It is What Is. Ultimately, you would not know your own power, nor have compassion for those who do not see their own, without experiencing this pattern on the human plane. This pattern is, as is everything that we see, a beloved gift that you give yourselves. You may choose to think of these words as our gift to you, that you may more clearly see the choices that you make and the limitless possibilities open to you.

Again, we see utter perfection in all choices, including the choices that create martyrdom. We invite you to see this perfection as well, especially if martyrdom is a part of You. Seeing perfection in What Is is in itself a perfect path of healing.

How Cats Think and Dream

admin@polarisrising.com — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:55:00 PDT

[Channeled, Aug 2009]

The following was part of a series of wonderful questions asked in the Polaris Forum (in this post) which relate to conscious creation, the mind and brain, and most importantly, cats.

Question: I was thinking about whether animals, such as cats experience a dream state or an alternative, lighter existence (such as we do) when they are sleeping? Do they experience a mental life similarly to the way we do and do they have individual or mass thought (being as they are part of a hive or shared soul)

Yes, animals such as cats experience dreams. However, they have more awareness of their ability to manipulate astral matter than do most humans. They also experience a lighter meditative state. You often see this with cats that appear be sitting and, for all intents and purposes, staring off into space. It would be incomplete say that they are meditating, but they are in a light hypnotic state, in almost a trance, and are in a meditative state. In that state they have a different awareness of their bodies than they do when they are fully awake and alert. In that state is when they have more conscious connection with the other consciousness that is them on a collective basis.

Which brings us to the last question, which was: do animals such as cats have individual or mass thought?

They have both.

When they are fully in their bodies, they are more or less individualized and have purely individual thought, with some awareness of the collectiveness that they are. When they are in that more meditative state or certainly within a dream state, they have more awareness of the collectiveness that they are.

Question: How is cat thought different from human thought?

It is difficult to express to you what "Cat Thought" is, given the limitations you have of the type of thought that you engage in. Cat thinking lives on a couple different levels.

Firstly, cat thoughts are on very basic level regarding instinctive behaviors: hunting, food, toileting, etc. On another level, cat thought is purely experiential. Human thought tends to be action related. It can also be abstract, but it tends also to rely heavily on the four dimensions that are the physical plane.

Cat thought, on the other hand, is more experiential and will simply be experienced and expressed as color, sound, energetic input, and sensation of various sorts. They see and regard objects as energetic rather than as completely solid. They have less attachment, in fact, to the solid nature of matter that you experience. They are relatively sure of the dependability of, for instance, a bed that they would like to jump up upon, bt they are also aware that the bed exists because you (in collective human thought) have created its existence and maintain it by your belief in its continued existence.

Do you have general (non-personal) questions for Polaris? If so, please post them to the Polaris Forum. If you want to get new posts and participate in discussions, you can also get them by email.