Sacred Acts

My mother used to take a bath on New Year's Eve and at might-night, when everyone else was setting off fireworks, she would burn her calendar in which she had marked up all the important events of the year. I didn't think much of it when I was a boy, but today I understand that these were ancient cleaning rituals - taking a bath and having the old consumed by the sacred fire. So consciously or subconsciously, she managed to let go of the old and got ready for the new year.

Do you know that it is part of the Jewish tradition to burry the equipment used for animal food production regularly in the ground. For food to be considered kosher you need to let Mother Earth clean the equipment regularly to wash away the sin of killing animals. Modern man may consider these rituals as superstitious, but modern man is simply disconnected from his roots, and these roots eventually will catch up with him. The Chinese tradition of Feng Shui explains what we do, and what would be beneficial for us to do, by simply stating ancient real and symbolic energy patterns. We do what we do for a reason, and once we study what we do, we often find sacred acts behind them.

Once we are aware of these connections we can use them to our advantage, and that's where the notion of a talisman and the so-called superstitious acts come from. C. G. Jung wasn't shy to remind the psychological community of our collective soul. We are all part of this collective unconscious and we can use these psychological and spiritual procedures to our advantage. For those of you who are interested in more depth on this subject, the Chilean author Alexandro Jodorowsky's book "Psychomagic" gives some great pointers.

What is Your Way?

I was sitting in a car with another investor and I told him that I was assuming coverage of a different region than I had done before. He asked me why, and I responded "My boss told me to do it - so be it." He looked at me and only said, "Well, you are a soldier."

You may like Christian Wiese's writings, and yes, that is who I am. I am describing a Way, but hardly the Way. The Psychologist C.G. Jung once discovered what he called our Archetypes -different personality types, roles that seem to be written into our collective subconscious - and we all seem to be gravitating towards one. Mine has loyalty written all over it. I once came up with the 3 Cs that define Christian's Way: Care, Creativity and Community. I care about the community I am operating in and would give everything to see things through that I care about. I am the love that the Christ talks about, just as I am the soldier that Lord Krishna appealed to on the battlefield in the Bhagavad Gita. Love and loyalty are my sources of creativity and strive, but as I said before, it is my Way and hardly the Way.

Find your source of originality but don't make a religion out of it. The word religion is based on the Latin root "to bind"; always act from your nature but don't tie yourself to anything but the Way. You are everything! There is a time when the soldier has to rebel and there is a time when the player has to make a stance. There is no wrong or right, there is only the Way. As the reader of my writings knows, I am also a Tao traveler. As Lao-Tzu discovered many thousand years ago, the Way comprises everything: the solder, the mother, the trickster, the wise woman and so much more. Do your job in whatever shape or form, then go your jolly Way.

Everyone on a spiritual journey has to make a first step towards Her. So what's your Way?

The White Buffalo Woman

I was on my way to a conference room to practice a presentation with some other colleagues. To my surprise I reached the room a couple of minutes early and I was just about to sit down when I noticed the art on the wall, it displayed a white buffalo. 'Wow', I thought to myself, 'didn't my sister-in-law just yesterday talk about the white buffalo story?' Unfortunately I couldn't really remember the story so I decided I would just quickly go back to my office and google the expression. I found a story of a white buffalo women who was revered by the Sioux tribe but unfortunately couldn't gather much more as the meeting was about to begin. When I arrived back in the room people had already gathered and soon after our trial run started. All the presenters were male, but we had one woman who had joined the discussion for the first time. She was in charge of the conference where this presentation would be held and wanted to see how it was progressing. As we were talking she quietly took notes but found also enough time to work on some other projects she had brought into the room. As she was looking up towards me I couldn't believe my eyes, there she was, sitting right below the white buffalo painting. It was as if she and the buffalo had merged at that magical moment: 'the white buffalo woman', I thought to myself.

It turned out that the group was surprisingly contentious. While this meeting was supposed to be a discussion of our final presentation, some still wanted to make changes and there was even a heated discussion going on what exactly the conclusions of our talk should be. I kept relaxed throughout the meeting and just listened to the suggestions of our moderator. She did everything right, helped us with titles, encouraged us to have different opinions and was even humorous about the whole thing. The white buffalo did her magic in this meeting. It is amazing what power psychological power ancient symbols still have in todays society. C. G. Jung would have enjoyed this meeting very much.

Spiritual Signs

Most spiritual path travelers possess some metaphysical perks would be my conjecture. It is like a little opening in this play of maya that shows that behind all the apparently hard facts there is something quite different, something magic in the background. One of my idiosyncratic modes of communication with the 'beyond' happens to be license plates: believe it or not, they contain little messages from the Source, mostly spiritual in nature, but from time to time even some  'real' predictions concerning people and events as well. How can that be, I often ask myself? Have the cars and license plate numbers been manufactured for me years ago with this magic moment today in mind?Is the Source Itself directing traffic to get these messages to me. Is there an authority inside me that knows when these signs will be available and directs me subconsciously to get me to these places at the right time? The one answer that may come to your mind I personally rule out, I don't think I read meaning into randomness.

I remember C.G Jung once saying on the famous synchronicity subject that for him these metaphysical occurrences stopped when he didn't look for them anymore. This doesn't surprise me at all. As I said, this metaphysical opening is your little nudge into the 'beyond', if you prefer to see only 'scientific' connections, your Tao is happy to have it your way. Anyhow, I cannot convince you either way, you will have to find out for yourself. Once the Tao has got a hold of you, you can run these tests yourself. I am sure that you will also find out that this rational universe of ours falls apart like a sand castle once you poke it with your metaphysical wand. If you already have some  psychic abilities, would you mind sharing them with us?

On Becoming Whole

There is a battle going on inside of us, the fight between who we want to be and who we are. Negating the human aspect in us is like trying to push a basketball below the surface, it will always come back with a splash. But then, what does it mean to embrace the ego or the animal inside yourself, does it mean you have to live out all your urges and passions? Based on my experience, you will always be able to re-channel your existing drive onto a higher spiritual plane, thus burning off your vasanas without compromising your soul. As a matter of fact, you can argue that this struggle between humanity and Godhood is what defines you and only you have the opportunity to express this tension in a beautiful and unique way. A few examples in this direction: becoming a CEO of a non-profit organization for the power hungry, becoming a spiritual writer for the professors inside of us, or practising tantric sex for those with abundant sexual drive, etc.

The problem that many spiritual path travelers have is that they keep on reading about the alleged enlightened stage of others, forgetting that they are still on a different spiritual plane. In my experience, you build up a massive 'Jungian shadow' or a 'Freudian super-ego' in the process. The way out, embrace all the aspects of your personality, while still making the right choices consistent with your personal Tao. This way, you will get the entire persona up to the next spiritual level.

But there is also a time when some of your vasanas will drop off naturally. "Been there, done that" is a holy mantra in my opinion. Don't torture yourself about the question whether this time has come for you or not. Your Tao will let you know when it is time to move on to the next level - that's what the spiritual journey is all about. Enjoy your road towards wholeness. As Jung once said, I'd rather be whole before being holy.

In Synchronicity I Trust

Some of you have probably read James Redfields's Celestine Prophecy, a book that develops C. C. Jungs's synchronicity idea. Everything in this universe is interconnected. Little did I know a decade ago that one day I would live my life according to this principle.

The universe supplies me steadily with symbols that enable me to travel along my spiritual path. A slight pain in my right knee reminds me if I am inflexible; a small cut while shaving alerts me to a harmful train of thoughts; interruptions by my children indicate that I have messed up again somewhere; and then I am bombarded with specific messages from licence plate numbers, dates, initials, etc. What I enjoy most are the implicit messages from my friends as well as foes. Every person has a specific symbol for me and what they say sometimes hits me like a sledgehammer, even though for them these innocent statements have no meaning at all.

My wife asked me what if the universe suddenly send a message to divorce her. Well of course not, there is no randomness in these messages. They are just little nudges to make me realize what I already know, but haven't yet completely embraced on a conscious level. Actually, I am wondering whether all spiritual travelers experience these messages as intensely as I do. Probably not. If you have a developed inner voice you don't really need to send these symbolic messages to yourself. My starting point has been an incredibly developed intellect, but my "feeling" dimension has been somewhat underdeveloped. So my strategy is to surrender my ego and intellect to life instead.

I actually feel incredibly lonely. Most of the messages that I receive are so private and so tailored to my ideosyncratic spiritual path that I can't really discuss them with anybody else. My wife is my closest friend, but she would definitely consider me a nut case if I told her half the things that are going on in my brain. I once came accross a book by Nouk Sanchez and Thomas Vieira, Take me to Truth, in which they described their journey as soul partners along their spiritual path. It must be fun to have somebody so close with whom you can explore all the metaphysical laws together. Meanwhile, I travel happily myself and can't wait for all the symbols the universe will offer me today.