Practical spirituality for a complicated world: The energetics of anger and fear.
***image1***I've received multiple inquiries about some of my recent writings about "energetics." Today's column will address some of the more disruptive energetics we encounter, as well as techniques for dealing effectively with them.
Before we jump right into the energetics we need to avoid or mitigate, it might profit us to recall that we benefit from the higher vibrational energies of love, joy, and peace. We should take advantage of being in those frequencies, and of generating those frequencies, as often as possible.
The air around us is filled with energies. The more well known (and therefore accepted as normal by the general population) are TV, radio and mobile telephone waves. These are energetic vibrations in which most people participate on a daily basis. People never say, "Oh, I don't believe in radio signals," or "All this woo-woo talk about TV pictures being sent through the air is rubbish; after all, I don't see them." We would consider that to be foolish talk, wouldn't we?
The vibrational energetics of anger and fear are being no less broadcast and received all around us, even as you read these words. Just as a television set or radio is programmed to pick up certain frequencies, so are we. Our very bodies contain energy centers, or to use the Vedic term, chakras. The brain is also responding, both consciously and unconsciously, to the energetics around it. The brain is going to be programmed one way or another. It will either be brainwashing by outside forces, or it will be educated through the choices of competent beings. When we're children, we depend upon parents and teachers to tell us about the world and our place in it. This works quite nicely if the parents and teachers are competent adults. If they are brainwashed clones themselves, then it stands to reason that they will only produce brainwashed clones.
The sad fact is that many, many people today do not act from the personal power of their spiritual centers, but rather react as they've been programmed to do. After long periods of reaction, they become numb. Even worse, they lose whatever trust in their own inner knowing that they might have once had. This leaves them vulnerable to those who would take advantage of them politically, financially and spiritually. As we've heard so many times, freedom and independence require constant vigilance.
Even the most shut-down or brainwashed person is still aware, on some deep level that he is being taken for a ride. This is good news, for it means that deep within each of us, there is a safe place, a spot that is inviolable. This is the seat of the soul, the sacred place wherein resides our true, divine, eternal nature. The soul can never, ever be hurt, or lost or stolen. A good example of this inner knowing, at least for my generation, is the murder of President Kennedy. Almost immediately, on a deep, unconscious level, we all knew that we were being lied to about what happened to the president that November day in Dallas. Forget all the conspiracy theories. For our purposes today, all we need to point out is that even though we might not have known the truth of what happened, we recognized the lies we were told. This is because we each have a "Truth-o-meter" inside us, and it always resonates to truth. It also sends an unmistakable resonation to the energetics of fear, anger, lies, or manipulation. This "Truth-o-meter" is part of our heritage as human beings.
The energetics of fear comes at us from local, national and global sources. In adults, fear will often manifest as anger and aggression. Simply look around you. There is an epidemic of anger, aggression and hostility. It keeps people off balance, and unable to logically assess and determine the source of their anger. So many people have lovely homes, nice salaries, comfortable cars, stylish clothes, and yet they are perpetually angry. Here in Santa Fe, we live in one of the most spectacularly beautiful places on the planet. Yet, people are snarling at each other, trying to drive each other off the road, pushing, shoving, surgically attached to a bloody mobile phone. The Democrats hate the Republicans, and the Republicans hate the liberals; women and men are at war, needing each other, but resentful and suspicious. The population is kept in a constant state of fear, justified by ever expanding wars on drugs, terrorism, obesity, racism, poverty, bird flu, high fuel prices, and on and on. People are constantly stirred up by the embedded media, entertained by violence and degrading behavior. Their government goes around the world, bombing, killing and destroying. They call it "nation-building" and "spreading democracy." The reality of it is unending aggression and savagery, and too painful and scary for most people to acknowledge.
What can we do instead? What is the answer? I believe the most beneficial action we can take as individuals is to live our lives with as much respect, balance and harmony as possible. Each individual has the responsibility to decide for him/herself how best to do that. For all of us, however, it will involve recognizing hatred, anger, hostility and violence for what they are, and never making excuses for those energetics. This can be quite the challenge when the hatred and aggression come from our own families, our own political parties, our own government, and our own back yards. Nevertheless, if we are to live free and joyful lives, we must live in the energetic frequency of honesty.
When you are confronted with anger and hostility, try to go the other way. Try to avoid it. If you cannot avoid it, then try not to engage it on its own terms. Affirm that you are a servant of the Light, a person of Power. Affirm that today, you choose to act from a place of freedom, intelligence, and courage. There are times, of course, when a confrontation is appropriate. Choose your battles, and don't allow yourself to be manipulated. Make your home into a shrine, a sacred place. Have pictures of enlightened beings such as Jesus, Krishna, Paramahansa Yogananda, Babaji, or some other teacher to remind you of a higher path.
At the very least, we can, each of us, make a personal decision not to add to the violence, hatred, fear and resentment. If we each refuse to participate in it, then it is diminished to some degree. You never know who's looking at you and following your example. Be in conscious control of the path you walk.
OM
To ask Robert a question, visit his Web site at www.RobertOdom.com, email desertrj@msn.com or send mail to PO Box 33, Santa Fe, NM 87504.