Recently there have been several incidents in the newspaper that evoked the question: “who is responsible?” A 15-year-old teenage girl was gang raped within a group of onlookers cheering the assailants. The crowd watched and twittered details of the events, while never standing up to stop the assault from happening. A few weeks prior, a young boy walking home from school accidentally found himself in the center of a gang war. The two warring gangs displaced their rage onto the boy and beat him to death in the presence of silent onlookers. No one stopped the descent into madness. When reflecting on these incidents, who do you believe is responsible?
Children are abused and experience incest and molestation within family systems that deny the incidents or fail to confront the perpetrators who live within their midst. Addicts thrive within systems that unwittingly allow the dysfunction to continue. When this happens, who is responsible?
The Earth has been profoundly impacted by ongoing pollution and misuse of resources. Her climate is changing, wildlife is disappearing and resources are either toxic or eroding. Who is responsible?
The other day my friend Rochelle spoke of our mutual friend’s distress. Rochelle is a compassionate individual and as she shared her concern for our friend’s dilemma she boldly stated, “her problem is not my problem.” And our group of friends easily concurred. A friend is in trouble: her heart is aching over a recent loss, her financial circumstances are serious and employment eludes her. Who is responsible?
Our mind easily buys into the thought that “her problem is not my problem”. The ego believes this concept and will boldly offer evidence for its foundation. Because the ego exists in a state of separation from soul and therefore life, it sees all issues as separate from itself and creates effective defenses to support its position. The soul however, does not exist in isolation from life. Soul lives in complete oneness with all life. It lives in constant awareness of us as one unified energetic reflection of source connected to every other soul and all life. Soul is fearlessly responsive and willingly responsible whatever it encounters. When you breathe deeply into your true essence, beyond your thinking mind, you will not need to search long for the answer “who is responsible?”
The Dalai Llama says, “ ‘we’ and “they” no longer exist. The planet is just us. The destruction of one area is the destruction of yourself. That is the new reality”. This statement is founded on the universal truth that we are interconnected beings - not seperate individuals having unique experiences. When we remember who we are – souls, not bodies or personalities – we access all the power we need to respond to whatever life presents. We do not feel overwhelmed, we do not avoid life's struggles or percieve any one's suffering as though it is that person's problem alone. And we do not try to fix or cover up what we encounter. We don't step into a mess or avoid it. When we are fully connected to our soul, we know we have the innate power to respond to life effectively.
If you are like me, you have masterfully created defenses that have you believing you are separate from life. All humans have these defenses in place. When faced with suffering in some form, whether it’s a friends anguish, the economy’s decline, twisted news events, global unrest or environmental imbalance you may shut down, feel overwhelmed, become overly responsible or wish someone else would “wake up and get it.” The defenses are limitless but none reflect your soul's innate power to responsively act. Defenses live within the ego. The human ego is very clever and well equipped to remain as the pilot of your life and to do so it needs your cooperation. By believing in your separateness, smallness and powerlessness, it convinces you to keep out of touch with your infinite power. And then soul remains in the deep recesses of your being, feeling elusive. And so do the answers. But neither is true or inevitable.
You are not your body or your mind. You are not your beliefs or circumstances. You are not confined to live in the struggle. The world's problems are not too big for you or me or inevitable. But in your mind’s belief system, you will feel trapped by the defenses that you learned in early life to cope with life's challenges. You can shift from defensive posturing into a soulful response.
Start by remembering your true essence. This is not something you can know from intellectual awareness or abstract understanding. Your soul is YOU. It has to be experienced directly. Start by breathing deeply into your being. Slow down your breathing and feel into your eternal nature. Set the intention to know YOU as a soul. Discover your true identity. Learn the truth of who you are, beyond all other pursuits. Breathe deliberately into your body, elongate your exhale and set the intention to recover your innate connection to your soul. You were born fully awake. Your mind did not hold defenses to your soul at birth. You can recover this innate connection.
Quietly breathe in and out and listen deeply to your soul. Go beyond your thoughts, beliefs and all of your ideas of self. That mind chatter will flow. Choose to notice it without judging its noise or following its call. Simply observe its stream while you seek to discover your essence of being that existed before you became this person that you see as "you"; the you that exists beyond your physical birth and death. Reclaim your birthright and power. Know who you are – truly. Within you is the infinite power of source energy. By knowing your soul, when the world presents challenges, you will access powerful solutions to life. Your soul will tap into the resources of infinite power within you that can creatively respond to whatever is presented. You will fearlessly know you are able to respond.
Whatever exists in my path, I am responsible. Whatever you see in life, you are responsible. We are all able to respond. From within your soul, the answers arise. From within your soul, the power lifts. From within your soul and mine, we create a whole new world.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Spirits or Psychosis?
Yesterday I was watching the Oprah show. Highlighted on her program was a family coping with a young girl who had been diagnosed with the rare condition of early onset schizophrenia. Schizophrenia usually appears in the late teens or early twenties and predominately in males. This child’s episodes began when she was quite young - before the age of 4. She spent hours in conversation and engaging play with her “imaginary friends”. At first the girl’s behavior was tolerated until some of her imaginary friends began driving her to behave in violent ways toward herself and others. This is when the parents who clearly love their daughter, sought intervention. A respected psychiatrist determined the child was hallucinating and psychotic. He diagnosed her as a rare case of early childhood schizophrenia.
Oprah showed a film clip of the girl swimming in a pool. There, she was shouting to protect her imaginary friend from drowning. I could see her friend with my own intuitive sight. He was an animal and he was swimming away from her, toward the deep end. It occurred to me that hallucinations are not visible to the clairvoyant eye. And I was clearly able to see her friend in that film. As I looked more closely at the child, I could see many spirits surrounding her. Some were friendly, but most were lost souls seeking expression. Intuitively, I sensed this child brought her psychic abilities with her at birth. She also brought the struggle to master her energy in a way she had not done in other incarnations. I felt like screaming aloud as I watched this tormented child and her loving parents walk away from the source of her condition, into a well-meaning attempt to manage her pain. Medication did not make the spirits go away; they were all still there. But at times, medicine dulled her senses enough to make it seem less invasive and her behavior slightly more tolerable.
There was a second child brought into Oprah’s discussion. This second child, who was also diagnosed with the rare early-onset schizophrenia, described with precision that spirits communicate to her and how when one attaches to her, she gets a migraine. I have seen this exact scenario occur in adult clients. This child described her experience verbatim and the adults in her world labeled her psychotic. Is she?
As an intuitive I sense spirits everywhere. As a child, I could always see multiple dimensions, future outcomes and the divine realms with ease. In the past, I have even been strongly overrun by spirit energies and manipulated into emotions and actions that were uncharacteristic of me, when I did not fully understand what was happening. It took intentional discernment to discover how to master my energy so that I could work with the spirit world in a safe and highly constructive way. Having such experiences within a culture that is uncomfortable believing that non-physical energies exist, that they can communicate with the physical world and do often directly impact it, can create a serious sense of isolation within a child experiencing this non-ordinary reality. It kept me silent about my intuitive abilities for decades.
I also grew up with a schizophrenic brother. My brother, Scott, was seven years my senior and a hero within my eyes. As a young teen, he read all of Carlos Castaneda’s books. It was only later that I discovered Carlos Castaneda wrote about shamanism and the ability to have direct knowledge of the unseen realms of spirit. It seemed my brother was drawn to understanding the nature of reality. When Scott went to college he experimented with psychedelic drugs, much like Carlos Castaneda. But Scott’s journey did not open him to a world of empowered living; it led him to an unforgiving lifelong battle with schizophrenia. Scott then spent most of his adult life within hospitals and group homes, struggling to find moments of peace.
Often I would visit my brother in the hospital. The energy in such places is replete with density. One day, I had cloaked myself in divine prayer just prior to my visit with Scott. I entered the lobby to discover my brother, several fellow patients and a room full of spirits watching television. One gentleman approached shouted upon my arrival: “You’re here!” he declared, “Will you please help me lose these mean people standing behind me!” I could see the angry spirits clustered behind him as they relentlessly jabbered expletives into his ears. My brother then looked boldly into my eyes and pleaded with me, “Lori, my room is filled with swarms of bees and dangerous people. Please clear my room.” Without questioning his pleas, I walked down the cold hallway to his room to see what was happening. There, I observed dark, clouds of energy floating about. I filled my heart with love and fearlessly called on the light of God and Divine Angels as I walked through the room instinctively cleansing the space, insisting that all energies not attuned with the divine leave now! I asked Archangel Michael and his band of mercy to stand as guardians to Scott’s room, holding the divine light intact. I then walked my brother back to his and asked what he saw. “Finally”, he said “its clean! Thank you”. His eyes were filled with a powerful peacefulness I had not seen often in the thirty years of his schizophrenia.
I had not been formally trained in energy work, spirit releasement or any other type of spiritual practice when this happened. My response was an intuitive answer to a soulful request. It made me wonder if I might have helped my brother differently during his lifetime. When my brother lay dying in his bed a few years ago, he was clinging to life. I sat next to him in prayerful meditation asking for mercy for his soul while calling upon The Divine Mother to enfold him in compassion and carry him to the light of God. Suddenly a beautiful being lowered herself to Scott’s chest, took his spirit into her arms and ascended into the light. He then took his last breath.
The children struggling with the invasion of spiritual entities on Oprah Winfrey’s program can be helped through non-traditional means. Is this the only answer? I do not know. Perhaps a combination of spiritual intervention and traditional support will serve the highest good. As a clairvoyant, I can confirm that the children on her program were not describing hallucinations: they were in fact seeing and hearing spirits in their very presence. Medication will not prevent the spirit world from interacting with them. While medicine may provide behavioral fluidity, it may also reinforce the child’s sense of powerlessness over circumstances that can be corrected when fully understood. My prayer is that we will open a meaningful dialog that allows us to expand our understanding of the suffering so we together we may bridge modalities and discover new interventions that stretch beyond the current dictates of our scientific model.
Oprah showed a film clip of the girl swimming in a pool. There, she was shouting to protect her imaginary friend from drowning. I could see her friend with my own intuitive sight. He was an animal and he was swimming away from her, toward the deep end. It occurred to me that hallucinations are not visible to the clairvoyant eye. And I was clearly able to see her friend in that film. As I looked more closely at the child, I could see many spirits surrounding her. Some were friendly, but most were lost souls seeking expression. Intuitively, I sensed this child brought her psychic abilities with her at birth. She also brought the struggle to master her energy in a way she had not done in other incarnations. I felt like screaming aloud as I watched this tormented child and her loving parents walk away from the source of her condition, into a well-meaning attempt to manage her pain. Medication did not make the spirits go away; they were all still there. But at times, medicine dulled her senses enough to make it seem less invasive and her behavior slightly more tolerable.
There was a second child brought into Oprah’s discussion. This second child, who was also diagnosed with the rare early-onset schizophrenia, described with precision that spirits communicate to her and how when one attaches to her, she gets a migraine. I have seen this exact scenario occur in adult clients. This child described her experience verbatim and the adults in her world labeled her psychotic. Is she?
As an intuitive I sense spirits everywhere. As a child, I could always see multiple dimensions, future outcomes and the divine realms with ease. In the past, I have even been strongly overrun by spirit energies and manipulated into emotions and actions that were uncharacteristic of me, when I did not fully understand what was happening. It took intentional discernment to discover how to master my energy so that I could work with the spirit world in a safe and highly constructive way. Having such experiences within a culture that is uncomfortable believing that non-physical energies exist, that they can communicate with the physical world and do often directly impact it, can create a serious sense of isolation within a child experiencing this non-ordinary reality. It kept me silent about my intuitive abilities for decades.
I also grew up with a schizophrenic brother. My brother, Scott, was seven years my senior and a hero within my eyes. As a young teen, he read all of Carlos Castaneda’s books. It was only later that I discovered Carlos Castaneda wrote about shamanism and the ability to have direct knowledge of the unseen realms of spirit. It seemed my brother was drawn to understanding the nature of reality. When Scott went to college he experimented with psychedelic drugs, much like Carlos Castaneda. But Scott’s journey did not open him to a world of empowered living; it led him to an unforgiving lifelong battle with schizophrenia. Scott then spent most of his adult life within hospitals and group homes, struggling to find moments of peace.
Often I would visit my brother in the hospital. The energy in such places is replete with density. One day, I had cloaked myself in divine prayer just prior to my visit with Scott. I entered the lobby to discover my brother, several fellow patients and a room full of spirits watching television. One gentleman approached shouted upon my arrival: “You’re here!” he declared, “Will you please help me lose these mean people standing behind me!” I could see the angry spirits clustered behind him as they relentlessly jabbered expletives into his ears. My brother then looked boldly into my eyes and pleaded with me, “Lori, my room is filled with swarms of bees and dangerous people. Please clear my room.” Without questioning his pleas, I walked down the cold hallway to his room to see what was happening. There, I observed dark, clouds of energy floating about. I filled my heart with love and fearlessly called on the light of God and Divine Angels as I walked through the room instinctively cleansing the space, insisting that all energies not attuned with the divine leave now! I asked Archangel Michael and his band of mercy to stand as guardians to Scott’s room, holding the divine light intact. I then walked my brother back to his and asked what he saw. “Finally”, he said “its clean! Thank you”. His eyes were filled with a powerful peacefulness I had not seen often in the thirty years of his schizophrenia.
I had not been formally trained in energy work, spirit releasement or any other type of spiritual practice when this happened. My response was an intuitive answer to a soulful request. It made me wonder if I might have helped my brother differently during his lifetime. When my brother lay dying in his bed a few years ago, he was clinging to life. I sat next to him in prayerful meditation asking for mercy for his soul while calling upon The Divine Mother to enfold him in compassion and carry him to the light of God. Suddenly a beautiful being lowered herself to Scott’s chest, took his spirit into her arms and ascended into the light. He then took his last breath.
The children struggling with the invasion of spiritual entities on Oprah Winfrey’s program can be helped through non-traditional means. Is this the only answer? I do not know. Perhaps a combination of spiritual intervention and traditional support will serve the highest good. As a clairvoyant, I can confirm that the children on her program were not describing hallucinations: they were in fact seeing and hearing spirits in their very presence. Medication will not prevent the spirit world from interacting with them. While medicine may provide behavioral fluidity, it may also reinforce the child’s sense of powerlessness over circumstances that can be corrected when fully understood. My prayer is that we will open a meaningful dialog that allows us to expand our understanding of the suffering so we together we may bridge modalities and discover new interventions that stretch beyond the current dictates of our scientific model.
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