Soulwork

Down is the new Up

Joseph Campbell relates this story about a young student of Buddhism:

The young student said to his master, “Am I in possession of Buddha consciousness? The master said, “No.”

The student said, “Well, I’ve been told that all things are in the possession of Buddha consciousness. The rocks, the trees, the butterflies, the birds, the animals, all beings.”

The master said, “You are correct. All things are in possession of Buddha consciousness. The rocks, the trees, the butterflies, the bees, the birds, the animals, all beings—but not you.”

“Not me? Why not?”

“Because you are asking the question.”

When we live “up” in our heads we will not find the answers to our spiritual queries. Living in the head takes us out of our Being, out of relationship to our body. We live in a world that for centuries has glorified the head, the intellect, and denigrated the body and heart.

We can never find our True Self by asking questions from our head. This very act separates us from being in our body. Our body has it’s own language, it’s own way of knowing and relating to the world. There will always be something missing if we look to our head alone for answers to life’s great questions.

Many years ago I was approached by a well-regarded Buddhist monk who told me he was well versed in Buddhist teachings. His many students could count on him to recall whatever sacred text was needed. He shared with me that something was still missing. He intuitively knew that his relationship with his body was the problem. This awareness opened the door for us to work on awakening into his embodied soul.

He, as with the rest of our world, had developed a view of the body as secondary to that of the intellect. This is very evident in the way our language exalts the word “head” as in “getting ahead,” “head of the class,” “headquarters,” “heads up,” “headmaster,” “level headed,” “you have a swelled head,” etc.

We also see this with the word “up.” Our head is up on top our body. When we say “things are looking up,” or, “I’m getting up,” or, “I’m moving up in life,” heaven is “up,” hell is “down.” When we are “down” things are bad. Anything below our belts, or “down there,” is suspect and to be avoided or is shameful.

See how many examples you can think of using these words. Look at how our very language has come to direct us away from moving our conscious awareness “down” into our body as though something evil is lurking there.

Our intellect might go so far as to treat our body as it would a detached machine to be “used” by the mind. Our intellect tells us to “take care of your body” and “listen to your body” as though it were the one in charge. It treats the body as a separate and subserviant object just like we do our cars.

We can discover “heaven on earth” if we will only reclaim our body, our senses, our embodied souls. There are a growing number of spiritual teachers and students re-discovering where “Being” is found. Down is becoming the new up.

”Being” is not found in or through the intellect or head. It is found through a visceral awareness of our body using our senses. It is found in the stillness we drop into through our bodies without looking or trying to do so which requires the intellect.

Because the student at the beginning of this reflection was “asking” or “doing” the master knew the student’s intellect disconnected him from the true experience of Being, of his True Self. The student was putting his intellect in charge which prevented him from discovering his Buddha nature.

Our intellect is likened to the Male, or Yang nature of our True Self. It uses reasoning, abstract thinking, and concepts which freeze the flow of the moment into a static idea or label. Our belly and heart are part of our Being Center where deep knowing and integration happens. Presence is found by dropping into Being found in the pelvic bowl. This is where we rediscover the Divine Feminine, the Yin. Only when Yin and Yang live in harmony will we discover our True Self.

There is no “up” without “down” just as there is no “feminine” without “masculine.” If we are to awaken fully into our soul we must change our conscious and subconscious attitudes towards up and down and treat them as equals.

Lao Tzu tells us this in no uncertain terms: “Know the male, but adhere to the female.”

White Rabbits

In “Alice in Wonderland” the White Rabbit sings: “I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date! No time to say hello, goodbye! I’m late! I’m late! I’m late!”

What is the White Rabbit late for? Perhaps Lewis Carroll, the author of “Alice in Wonderland” offers us a hint in his personal writing. Is he sharing his soul’s journey with us when he writes: “Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle.”

The rabbit leads Alice down the hole and returns throughout the tale to prompt new perspectives. We all have our own White Rabbits that help us when we get stuck. However, by itself the rabbit does not supply the answers, only inspires movement. It’s anxious refrain plays a pivotal role in Alice’s story.

Whether we realize it or not we all have White Rabbits that help us through challenges. These rabbits act like crutches to get us moving when we’re stuck. These crutches are helpful and necessary tools that perform an important transitional function. Many people use tools like Tarot, ruins, prayer, ritual, nature, amulets, music, friends, teachers, astrology, books, meditation, mantras or mudhras to focus their attention and provide stimulation.

From a spiritual perspective we want to use our White Rabbits carefully. We do not want to give away our power to them, or become so attached to them that we cannot access our soul’s wisdom directly. Just like the rabbit does in Alice’s story we want our tools to inspire us to find our own way.

By honing our awareness of and relationship to our own White Rabbits we increase our chances to hear our own soul’s voice over time. We learn to respect them. We learn when to call upon them. We learn which one’s work best in different situations. We have learned to consciously ask for help from our White Rabbits. But do we want to become addicted to them?

Why is it vitally important not to give our power and choices away to our White Rabbits? Simply because the rabbits are not our soul. They are links and pointers into our unconscious. In and of themselves there is no guarantee that our Higher Self will show up. We can be misled down destructive paths by relying too heavily on something outside of our own wisdom.

In the end we alone are responsible for our choices and how we interact in the world. This is why I prefer the word “crutches” as a synonym for “White Rabbit.” We want to walk on our own. Over time we want to rely on our White Rabbits less and less.

Through practice, and with the help of our White Rabbits, we learn to sense our soul’s voice directly. With this self-knowledge comes great joy and satisfaction. As Alice’s story ends we get of glimpse of this promise in this exchange:

White Rabbit: ”You saved Wonderland, Alice. I thought it was you that made the garden bloom.”

Alice: “Oh, I could never do that. Only someone special could make the flowers bloom.”

Princess: ”Do you want to know a secret, Alice?You are as special as you think you are.”

“God” as a verb?

I’ve recently given a few talks where I invited those present to reconsider the word “god.” As my life has unfolded I have come to recognize a deeper and wider experience of what this word points to. All words are pointers to an experience, a symbolic way of re-membering. As we learn to feel into what is behind words we naturally become more present, more of us shows up in the moment. Even the word “present” doesn’t have to be static, but an ever-deepening invitation to be more fully present with more and more of our embodied consciousness.

What happens when we change our relationship with the word “god” from a noun to a verb? God no longer is experienced as a static person, place, experience, or answer to our questions. God is no longer the final resting place of our desire to awaken. He/She/It is dethroned. What if “god” wasn’t a noun?

Instead, if we experience the word “god” as a verb we might feel into what might also be called “Spirit in Action.” As Rumi says in his poem “Love Dogs” we discover god is the longing behind our desire to reach some future experience. God is the longing itself, not some person, place, experience, or answer.

Going deeper into this new experience of god we learn to feel into the push and pull of what some might call the dance of the Yin and Yang, Divine Mother and Divine Father, Eros and Agape. It is the positive tension between these two perceived opposites where god the verb is found. It is the felt call to awaken to our True Self, the God within our Self and the Self in others. It is the never-ending call to evolve our consciousness. It is the God that unites both the Relative and Absolute domains of awareness and existence; the paradoxical God that is both totally free and constantly invited to a fuller experience of being human.

This awareness of Spirit in Action cannot be adequately described with words alone, only experienced through our awareness and its many dimensions. So next time you find yourself looking or longing for god, dive into the experience of longing itself. You might be surprised at what is waiting.

Love Dogs
by Rumi

One night a man was crying Allah! Allah!
His lips grew sweet with praising,
until a cynic said, “So!
I’ve heard you calling our, but have you ever
gotten any response?”

The man had no answer to that.
He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep.
He dreamed he saw Khidr, the guide of souls,
in a thick, green foliage.

“Why did you stop praising?” “Because
I’ve never heard anything back.”

“This longing you express
is the return message.”

The grief you cry out from
draws you toward union.

Your pure sadness
that wants help
is the secret cup.

Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.
That whining is the connection.

There are love dogs
no one knows the names of.

Give your life
to be one of them.

Wanted: Evolutionary Doulas

We are entering into the 6th great epoch of human evolution that has occurred over the past 50,000 years. Just like a doula helps birth parents through the planning, delivery, and care of a newborn, you are being invited to do the same on a much larger and impactful scale.

If there were a cosmic newspaper with a Help Wanted section it might run a classified ad stating: “Wanted: Evolutionary Doulas*.” The more a soul awakens the more it embraces the Eros of evolution. It inherently aligns with its unique role in the awakening of the human species.

No matter what gender a soul embodies it understands its co-creative role in the birthing of the next wave of human evolution, of consciousness itself. In the same way a mother cannot stop the birth of her child, any human can feel into the core of their being that they are participating in a birth that cannot be stopped. There is no other choice. It knows a birth is coming and it will do its best to prepare for it in whatever way it is invited. Both the pain and joy of the experience are welcomed and embraced.

As much as both parents are consumed with joy and awe at the birthing of their child, an embodied soul is intoxicated with the joy that comes from being an integral part of creation itself. If you’ve been present during the birth of a child then you likely can recall the depth and meaning this experience evokes. If not perhaps you can contemplate your own birth from your soul’s perspective.

It gets better. Can you fathom what it would be like to be the Doula, the parent, and the birth child all at the same time? An awakened soul is able to hold this embodied awareness fully in the core of its knowing. This knowing magnifies the meaning of the word “awe.” This expanded awe comes from an awareness that this evolutionary birthing cannot be accomplished alone but only in communion with other like minded souls working together. It is truly a communal undertaking like none we’ve ever had.

As we peak through the emerging doorway into the next stage of human development (like seeing the head of a baby crowning from the womb) we begin to understand and taste what a new emergent worldview looks and feels like as it builds on all that has come before. Not only can we see that this birthing is necessary for our species to survive, but we also grok that our participation is needed for a new and healthier society to emerge. Only then will we be able to look together at what we are co-creating while we appreciate all its implications. We become a joyful parent witnessing a beautiful newborn full of new potential and promise.

The pseudo-soul (false self/ego) is trapped by its small and limited view. It cannot understand or sense something that is not inherently part of its awareness and identity. Because its awareness is built on its limited experience of this lifetime, it can only generate pseudo-Eros based on the limitations of its imagination. It is trapped by its own identity, neediness, and attachments to its beliefs. This often leads to depression, anxiety, or a gloomy outlook on life.

It is commonly constrained in at least two ways:

First, it’s motivation is derived from how one answers this question: “What group or subgroup of our planet do your choices primarily support?” While every person and group need to be supported and honored, we need more than Ego or Ethno centric motivations if we are to give birth to the next evolutionary wave of our species. An awakening soul holds the view that each individual and group can only thrive and evolve when supported by a healthy and thriving larger group. A new world-centric worldview emerges that integrates all views, all people, all groups. Its motivations are driven first by what best serves the whole.

A pseudo-soul puts the needs of itself, family, or subgroup (ethnicity, corporation, political party, church, city, country, fellow believers) first and lets the chips fall where they may with little regard for the larger global community.

Second, a pseudo–soul is often unaware or unable to literally feel into the evolutionary impulse of Eros. Thus it cannot feel into the universe’s (Agape’s) invitation and call to evolve and awaken further. Its pseudo-Eros shows up in “earthly desires” that are of limited and transient value arising from a hunger that can never be filled. Its true role in the unfolding human story is subsumed by its own narrow needs and desires which block its ability to understand, embrace, feel, or even contemplate the Eros of the Universe calling it into greater communion with it’s True Nature, to Oneness with all.

Our species is in the birth canal and the head of the next epoch is beginning to crown. How much of this evolutionary impulse are you able to feel? An awakened soul knows a successful birth of this next epoch can only be accomplished in communion with other souls. A critical mass of sufficiently awakened souls will become the new Doula that ushers in this epic event. Each unique soul will embrace its particular role in this birth.

How will you answer this evolutionary invitation?

I’m really excited about this upcoming event that speaks to the future of spirituality…

— PRESS RELEASE —

The Rise of World Spirituality

Special to the Union: April 2012

World Spirituality is an exciting, emerging vision that holds the promise of finding common ground on which to build our future and end our culture wars. It is not a new religion. It represents a new and inclusive way of embracing the diverse richness of all our social, moral, religious, secular, and inspirational teachings in a 21^st-century spiritual framework.

It has taken us a hundred years of spiritual exploration to arrive at a critical mass of people who are ready, willing, and able to understand how this can be done. The list of well-known visionaries incorporating this new framework into their teachings is growing rapidly.

What’s different at this time in our history?

In this information age, we finally have the capability to access and understand the depth and breadth of our human condition. We can see what has worked and what has not. We have come to recognize that we each play a critical role in a growing global interdependence that begs for more enlightened participation. We want our smart phones but we also want them to be responsibly manufactured, and we ourselves must become increasingly responsible stewards of our planet’s resources and health.

We can begin to see the common threads that unite us. By emphasizing the common elements behind our shared aspirations, we are more likely to find a common ground on which to meet our deepest objectives. We can also learn to appreciate the diversity and richness each unique path contributes whether it comes from traditional religion, science, psychology, perennial wisdom, brain research, or the evolution of consciousness.

What has not worked in the past is our focus on the “how” instead of the “what” of our longing: we get bogged down in how we express and practice our beliefs and consequently lose focus on the essence of what we are commonly striving for. The last 30 years have given us the tools and insights to understand and embrace more fully the many unique paths that all point toward peace, fullness, love, compassion, and growth.

We now know it is possible to honor differing paths in a way that creates a united front to navigate today’s global challenges. We each have a voice in solving global opportunities that call us to work together in financial, ecological, humanitarian, media, scientific, and governing challenges, whether we like it or not.

What does World Spirituality have to contribute toward the financial crisis in Greece, the growing polarization in politics, or the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East? Why has the most profound and historically unifying resource available to us, spirituality, lagged behind? What has happened to diminish the historical value and importance of spirituality, our universal call to something higher and greater? Why are more and more people self-identifying as “spiritual but not religious”? What will it take to recapture the power of spirituality in a 21^st-century world without the baggage of past mistakes?

To help you answer these important questions Soulworkers Centre of Grass Valley is sponsoring a free multi-media presentation on Saturday, April 28, at St Joseph’s Cultural Center. Bob Mackura will share what has brought us to the edge of this evolutionary shift of epic proportions. You will learn how we can bridge the best of the Eastern and Western spiritual traditions in a framework more suited to this century. You will be encouraged to find your own unique role in co-creating this new World Spirituality.

Bob Mackura is an author, spiritual mentor, and teacher with 20 years of experience. Prior to focusing on leading-edge spiritual matters, he spent his life in similar pioneering roles in international business and other multicultural arenas. For the past six years his sanctuary has been Soulworkers Centre in Grass Valley. Soulwork is the culmination of the best of what he has learned through decades of exploration with teachers of many cultures, backgrounds, and spiritual paths.

Marti Ross is the event coordinator. She and her husband participate on a regular basis at Soulworkers Centre as a way of complementing their membership in a local spiritual community.

Know & Go

What: The Rise of World Spirituality

When: Saturday, April 28, 1:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Where: St. Joseph’s Cultural Center, 410 S. Church Street, Grass Valley

Tickets: Free

Information: 530-798-9190, worldspirituality@soulworkers.com or www.soulworkers.com

I’m really excited about the workshop I’m offering at Harmony Lodge outside Nevada City this Saturday, March 24th.

Our society, especially most western spiritual paths, don’t get the true meaning and power of soulful Eros. True Eros is one of the most misunderstood, under appreciated, maligned, and most important aspects required for our full awakening.

I’ve been wanting to offer this powerful and insightful workshop for a long time. Now I’m finally ready and juiced up as I deeply feel the urgent need in today’s world to reclaim our true power in all its dimensions. Please consider joining us in reclaiming our embodied souls.

Updated Spring 2012 Calendar of Events

Check out all of Soulworkers Centre Spring events including workshops, free public events, and a new class starting soon in Sacramento on our updated calendar. Click here for quick access:

http://www.soulworkers.com/SoulworkersCentre/SoulworkersCentre/centrecalendar.html

We hope to see you there!

Brand new video: Soulwork and World Spirituality

Here’s a brand new up-to-date explanation of Soulwork and where it fits in to a fast-growing worldwide spiritual vision that is attempting to meet the needs of our global community in this 21st-century.

http://youtu.be/g5phzry9n04

The landscape of human spirituality is changing. Our species continues to evolve on all levels. As we begin this new century an all-inclusive shift of what it means to be spiritual is taking root around the world. Bob Mackura is one of a growing number of visionaries who are ushering in this shift in consciousness through Soulwork and Soulworkers Centre in Grass Valley, California.

Soulwork, under the seasoned guidance of Bob, is at the heart of a co-creative process that is giving birth to the next evolutionary step in human consciousness. Our primordial evolutionary impulse invites us to come together by focusing on our shared essence rather than what keeps us separate. Embracing this pioneering impulse is driving the emergence of World Spirituality and is supported by a long list of contemporary spiritual luminaries and teachers.

Christmas re-visioned

The Essence of Christmas

For many people this time of year brings up conflicting emotions and beliefs around what Christmas is all about, both for them as well as the world around us. It seems we are ever-increasingly deluged by both the materialistic Christmas and religion’s historical view based on a literal interpretation of biblical events. You might sense there should be more (or less) but what direction would you take in re-imagining the meaning of this season?

First of all, I would like to suggest that it is through ritual and imagery that we increase our right brain’s capacity to feel into our soul, into our mystical nature, into that part of us that transcends this material world. If we throw out Christmas rituals and all of it’s right brain opportunities, we allow ourselves to be controlled by the negativity we perceive around this holiday. We also throw out the opportunity to embrace the reality of “now.” From an awakening soul’s point of view, it is more about the perspective we bring into the reality of Christmas than our reaction to perceived negativity we choose to embrace.

We each have a choice on the perspective we bring to any situation. If we choose to do so, we can change our inner perspective on what is happening around us this time of year, including the limited ways we are being offered to embrace the holidays. Perhaps if enough of us do this we can shift the tide of meaning.

For instance, what if we saw in Christmas the symbolism behind the birth of Christ, as a symbol of a birth into our Christ-consciousness; the birth of our own beautiful soul as a facet of Divinity? Wouldn’t that be something worth celebrating and “shouting from the highest mountain?” When we hear the song “What Child is this” can you re-interpret it into a homage to the Divine Child we are each giving birth to in our own consciousness, our embodied soul? We can extend these songs of reverence and jubilation to all the souls that are awakening into their True Self. I can’t imagine anything worth celebrating more, or being more thankful for.

What if we saw all of those Christmas light displays as an unconscious message coming from our group soul as a reminder of the Light within each of us? Each time we saw Christmas lights we could once again re-interpret their meaning as a blessed message from the Divine inviting anyone who cares to notice that there is an event more brilliant light within each of us. Wouldn’t that be worth celebrating?

And …what about gift giving? Of course, we live in a world that is so externalized we lose the meaning behind gifts that arise from our soul. Perhaps Christmas can serve to remind us that we are a gift; that being incarnated in a human body is a gift so magnificent that it is hard to imagine. What if we saw our Self and others as children of the Universe, of God? Wouldn’t we bend our knee in reverence and awe? Would we become more serious about being curious, playful, joyful, free, and less fearful?

It has been said: “God works in mysterious ways.” Who’s to say that our growing frustrations around contemporary meanings of Christmas isn’t God’s way of shaking us out of our stupor so we could see what these symbols and rituals are really pointing to.

Can you allow Christmas trees to remind you of our deep interconnection with our natural world and our interdependence on it. Can you bow to the Christmas boughs and wreaths as you express your thanks to the natural world for giving us fresh air to breath, food to eat, and water to drink.

To the awakening soul in each of you I say: “Merry Christmas” and may the Light in each of us shine brighter than ever before this holiday season.

Updated Press Release

Soulwork and my vision of the journey continue to evolve as does human consciousness. Here’s a recent press release I was asked to submit:

The landscape of human spirituality is changing. Our species continues to evolve on all levels. As we begin this new century an all-inclusive shift of what it means to be spiritual is taking root around the world. Bob Mackura is one of a growing number of visionaries who are ushering in this shift in consciousness through Soulwork and Soulworkers Centre in Grass Valley, California.

Soulwork, under the seasoned guidance of Bob, is at the heart of a co-creative process that is giving birth to the next evolutionary step in human consciousness. Our primordial evolutionary impulse invites us to come together by focusing on our shared essence rather than what keeps us separate. Embracing this pioneering impulse is driving the emergence of World Spirituality and is supported by a long list of contemporary spiritual luminaries and teachers.

You will find inspiring and informative teachings about what is behind this profoundly important shift on the soulworkers.com website.

About Bob Mackura

…an author, spiritual mentor, and teacher spanning 20 years.

Bob has spent much of his life in the middle of pioneering roles including leading-edge spiritual pursuits, international business, and multicultural arenas. He has always had a spiritual bent, even studying to be a Catholic priest early in his life. For the past 20 years he has rededicated his life by honoring his spiritually diverse experiences through assisting others looking for a more complete and integrated spiritual perspective.

As founder and spiritual director of a non-denominational sanctuary on the Big Island of Hawaii for 10 years, he brought together the best of the wisdom-teachings he had studied and integrated, and he deepened his own spiritual experience through the tests and trials, the riches and rewards, the profoundly difficult and the incredibly uplifting experiences of working with fellow spiritual pioneers in this undertaking.

Today these experiences provide him with even greater opportunity to assist others from different cultures and diverse spiritual and religious backgrounds. He remains active in helping others in spiritual crisis having been part of the Spiritual Emergence Network for many years. All of these experiences came together with the inspiration to write his book entitled Ego, Soul, and Beyond – A Soulworkers Handbook.

Bob’s current sanctuary is Soulworkers Centre in Grass Valley. “Soulwork” is the culmination of the best of what he has learned through decades of exploration with teachers of many cultures, backgrounds, and spiritual paths. It is a method of reducing the complexities of life into simple yet profound practices for spiritual expansion. More information about Bob can be found on his website: www.soulworkers.com You can also contact him at 530-798-9190 or bob@soulworkers.com