I Am. The First Law- Walt Whitman, God and Popeye

In the years leading up to the American Civil War, American writer and poet, Walt Whitman carried a notebook with him everywhere he went; and it is by his commentary on everything he saw, that we come to know him the best.  

It's a lot like the notebook I carry with me.  We both jot down observations, notes, things we need to remember, questions we need to ask, a hundred different first lines to what we are sure will be the next "Great American Novel"- all the usual stuff.  But there is one entry in Whitman's notebook that is particularly worthy of note.  

On one page there is an entry which many believe to be simply the beginnings of his book "Leaves Of Grass", which reads; "And I am."

Now, many believe that those words, "I am", should be looked at as an unfinished sentence.  Popular opinion seems to be that the sentence was meant to read "I am (insert something here)".  In other words, "I am" was not meant to stand alone and Whitman just forgot to write whatever was supposed to come next.

I believe something else.  

As evidenced by a single notebook entry, I believe this was the point at which he began to access his real power as a writer and as a Human Being.

Modern Reality theory holds that there are 4 Laws (existing outside our "laws of physics" that really only pertain to our particular dimensional Universe anyway) that allow you to experience your version of reality.  The first law states "You exist".

That may sound simple, but it contains a sub-current of information that, when you realize what it means, is astounding and humbling.  It also comes with an inherent set of perks and bennies that we are given as human beings by the All-That-Is that can help us to navigate our existance.  

You see, if you exist *now*, you always have and you always will.  

"How can this be?" you ask? (yes, I heard you)-it is because of the way the Universe is structured.

Many of you have heard me talk about the concept of Time as something created by the ego mind for the purposes of understanding what is happening at a given moment.  This concept does not really exist outside our physical form.  ALL things exist, at all times- the past, the present and the future for our Higher Selves so if you "exist" "now"-you MUST also exist "then"- and then and then and then...

We see this referred to in the Bible, as God answers when Moses asks him what he should be called.  God answers "I am."  Not "I was", or "I will be", but "I AM."  It is the certainty of God's existance, and ours- all wrapped up in those two little words.

No beginning, no end.

In the image of God (insert definition here)

We can change form, and we often do- but in the knowing "I am", we know that we will always exist in one way or another.

Carrying this further, we understand that if we exist in all times, we have access to the information of our "other selves" AT ALL TIMES.  Once you understand that there is a connection, and how to access that connection, you can tap into the greater wisdom of yourself- Your Self.  You can, in effect, "borrow" from your alternate self when you need to.  If you have a question in this Reality, there is a self somewhere "out there" in a reality which has an answer.  

Take the cartoon "Popeye", for example, as a sort of comical analogy (pun intended).

I know you were wondering how in the world I was going to fit this in, well here it is:

If you are familiar with this cartoon, you are familiar with his catch phrase, "I 'yams whats I ams, and dats all that I 'yams" and that he often says this just before or just after he performs one of his daring feats of strength.  Looking at that through your "new" eyes you can see a layer of deeper meaning here in that it can be said that Popeye is calling upon the strength of his "other selves" in order to add it to his own and save the day.  "I am"- and that's all he needs!  

Now, one more baby-step.

If this is the case, and whenever you have a question there indeed is a "you" out there with the answer, then in means that what is "out there" is capable of BE-ing and doing ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!

You are being supported by infinate existence- an existence that expands to include every answer you will ever need. Your imagination is the spark that creates these selves-and you could not have imagination if you did not exist!  Realizing this can be the difference between feelings of despondency, and a sense of empowerment.  

Though we may never know for sure, I think that, consciously or not, Whitman came into contact with this very powerful sense of connection with the writing of those two words. 

If you want proof of how powerful this realization can be, take this into consideration; three blank lines after Walt Whitman wrote "...I am." in his notebook, he begins the prose which will eventually be published as "Leaves of Grass"; a work which was to spread of the idea of an America free of slavery, and would earn Whitman the title of "The Father of free verse".  

The Purpose Of Fear, or, as the Klingons say, "Today Is A Good Day To Die"

I am surely showing my Geekery with this post, but so be it!

Many years ago, there was an episode of Star Trek Next Generation which involved some kind of spacial anomaly (remember those???) creating a line of demarcation which was passing through the ship-almost like the ship was passing through some kind of veil.  You could see this line as a shimmering field that moved along the corridors as the ship moved forward.  Eventually, most of the crew members were cowering in the corner of 10-forward (For those unfamiliar with the series, 10-forward is the Star Fleet Equivalent of a lounge) as the shimmering wave came closer and closer.  I won't give away the end of the story- (AWWW  but GRACIE!!!!)  But I will say that it sparked a dream the night I saw it.

In my dream, I was with that group of frightened crew members, watching the "safe" and familiar space getting smaller and smaller and wondering what to do about it.  To the horror of my colleagues, I adopted a rather Klingon attitude and, figuring that if I was going to get squashed anyway, I would get squashed on my OWN terms; and chose to walk through the veil and into the unknown under my own power.

Oddly enough, that dream marked a turning point of sorts in my life and I began to examine how my attitude towards the fears in my life might be keeping me from doing the things I really wanted to do.  Now, bear with me a moment here while I explain something.

When you are experiencing a feeling of joy, like when you are doing something you love to do, you are emitting a vibration that is the closest your physical body can get to the pure vibration of your non-physical self.  You are more openly connected to that part of you which inspires you and which is best suited to guide you on the path to the you that you chose to come here to follow.  So, it can be said that when all your beliefs are arrayed to connect you to that feeling of joy, you are closer to being your true self.

All emotions are nothing more than a movement of energy through you (as it is said Energy-motion, E-motion), and all emotions emit a particular vibration.  They are designed to keep you aligned with that truest point- your "true North" of self-hood.  This is what is meant by the popular phrase "Follow your bliss", and the teachings of Abraham describe this as your "emotional guidance system", which is a good analogy in general.  They often say that when you do not feel good-for example, when you are experiencing fear, you are not "in alignment" with your true self.  When you *are* one vibration at your core level, and you are emitting another, non-compatible vibration through your emotions, you sense the discord.
The teachings of Bashar have a slightly different take on it (though they are really saying the same thing at the core).  The idea is, that you embody one vibration as your Higher Self, and when the physical "you", over time, adds layers of beliefs which are not compatible with the vibration of your higher self, you feel the discord in the form of fear.  So Fear, in effect, is the vibration of your Higher self as it is experienced when you hold certain patterns of belief (which are also vibrations).
Both of these views can be roughly compared to throwing two rocks into a pond.  Each rock will cause a certain configuration of ripples, but if the ripples happen to collide, the pattern is disrupted.

If your eyes aren't crossed by all this, read on!

So, if this is the case, it means that fear has a definite meaning and can become a tool for self-exploration.  When you are experiencing fear, you know you are holding a belief that doesn't "jive" with what your Higher Self knows is true about you (and your Higher Self knows a WHOLE lot more than you do-so trust it).  So your next step is to take a good, objective, look at what is happening and to ask yourself- "If I am attracting this situation to myself-or if what I am seeing in my reality is a reflection of what is going on inside my own head-what would I have to be doing (i.e. thinking or believing) to have brought this on?"  You are asking yourself, in effect, what beliefs would have to be in place, somewhere inside you, for this situation to appear as it does.  I usually carry a notebook with me.  As I experience a fear, I jot it down in the notebook, and when I get a moment, I look them over and decide which ones no longer serve me-and that would be pretty much all of them. ;)
Then, I choose to change the belief.  It's really as simple as that.  If the belief does not "come loose" at first, it's a clue to me that there might be another belief existing "underneath" that is supporting it.  With a little detective work, some meditation, and paying attention to how I feel, I usually get to the bottom of it very quickly.  I then write a line through the old belief and write the new belief in the book- "I choose to believe...".  The writing helps to "lock in" the new vibration with some physical reinforcement.
This is where some of you might use ritual, or mantra to act as your "locking in mechanism".  Whatever it is that convinces you that a change has occurred is fine so feel free to get creative if you are inspired!  Vianna Stibal, author of the book "Theta Healing" suggests that you envision your mind as a rolodex with each belief you hold written on a different card.  Then imagine the card with the negative belief being removed and replaced with another card containing the positive belief.
In this process, you are also transforming the energy of fear itself.  First, you create a sense of curiosity about what this fear is attempting to signal to you.  Then, when you have chosen your replacement belief, the curiosity becomes a sense of empowerment which puts you in closer harmony with your core being.  When you know that you have changed, your experience of what is around you will transform to be more representative of the new beliefs that you hold.

The Shamans of the tradition in which I was trained understood well the power of transformation, and it is said that every Shaman must undergo a kind of "death" in order to truly realize his potential.  Sometimes it is a death of old habits or systems of belief which no longer serve the Shaman in existing as the Being he was created to be.  We discover more of who we truly are through exploring the unknown- like what existed beyond the curtain on the Enterprise.  When I faced the veil of the unknown, I recognized it for the opportunity for transformation that it was.  In this "real world", I am no longer afraid of fear, because I know that it is a signal from my Higher Self that some examination is in order.  By facing it, I become stronger, and a more competent creator in my own reality.
As a Klingon in the dream, I said, as the Klingon warriors were famous for saying in the series, "Today is a good day to die", meaning that this was a moment in which I was being given a chance to transform myself for the better.
I took that chance.
My Life has been richer ever since.

The Story As A Tool For Creating Reality

Stories have been used since the beginning of humanity to impart information and to entertain. As a Shaman, and conscious creator, I write stories to help illustrate certain concepts.   Shamanism recognizes that the "story world" is akin to the "dream world", and as such, is just as real as the physical reality you exist in at this moment.   But have you ever thought about why the story, as an entity in itself, has become such an integral part of human development?  Sure, we often identify with the characters in a story as other facets of ourselves.  We like to see them succeed and imagine that we are the ones coming out ahead.  If we are not presently "ahead" then we might prefer to see their struggles and relate them to our own.  In addition to, and separate from, the archetypes and characters, we are also drawn to certain themes, or "plot lines" (such as boy finds girl, loses girl and finds girl again, or the Greek model of tragic figures who fall and then rise again) over and over again because there is something about the reality that they create which speaks to us on a deep level.  The story structure itself becomes the archetype, and because this resonates so strongly with humans, it makes the information conveyed by the story that much easier to remember.

But it is the story itself-meaning the creation of information based on the imagination- that has a much more powerful meaning in the inclusive Universe.  

Life is a story:

Look at it this way,  each moment you exist is the next moment in the continuing adventures of you.  If you were to take a few moments to examine your life as you have experienced it to this point, you would see certain themes, habits, illustrations, actions, reactions, feelings and patterns emerge- in other words, a story.   Your story is utterly unique to you, and is playing concurrently with any number of other stories generated by the people around you.  You may play a major character in some of those stories or be relegated to a minor, supporting role.  But your own story exists as a complete and self-contained vibration and this is what gives you such power in it.

The Story As Magic:

Telling a story involves all 3 components of creation; Physical mind (the body-mind), The Thinking Mind (the Ego), and The Higher Mind.  This is similar to what those practitioners of Magic might call "Intent-Focus-Belief"-Identification of the desire, the focus of energy on the desire and the belief that the desire will come to fruition. 
Law of Attraction fans may define the process as "Want-Ask-Allow"; The Thinking Mind identifies a desire and focuses attention on it while the Physical mind (tied to the body-mind) summons up deep feelings and passion about the subject which are taken and interpreted by the Higher Mind, which in turn takes care of the details and arranges the circumstances needed to bring that desire into manifestation.  Run-on sentences aside, both are simply different ways of referring to the same thing. ;)
When seen in this context it becomes clear that all "spells" are simply ways of convincing the practitioner that the present story (the reality of the moment)  has, in effect, been re-written into a story which is more representative of the practitioner's desires.

The Story As Creation:

When we put forth a particular story, is it said that we are vibrating at a particular frequency.  You support and sustain this frequency by living your story- behaving and believing in such a way that supports your vision.    Something as simple as looking at your life as it exists now, in other words, the story that it represents; and deciding to change the story, can have profound effects on what you experience in reality.  This is another tool that has been given to us, "hard wired" by the Universe to help us become conscious creators in our own Lives.  You may be happy with your story as it is playing out, or wish to make changes.  If you wish to make changes, then envision your story as you would prefer it to be and live as though it has already happened.  You can do this because you have ultimate control over your own story, even to the meaning you attribute to the events occurring around you.  

The Story is Meaning-less:

All events, all stories, are neutral.  They have no intrinsic meaning in and of themselves.  It is the observer who assigns the meaning to the circumstances and therefore, it is the observer who can choose to change the meaning that they had previously assigned.  If someone doesn't call you when they say they will, how many of you choose to believe that it means they dislike or are avoiding you?  How many of you will choose to believe that it means they simply lost track of time?  What you choose is determined by your habitual beliefs (belief is a vibration).  If you choose to assign a positive belief and meaning to an event, then that event must ultimately serve you in a positive way because you have changed the vibration.  

Life does not write your story, YOU write your story.  You have only to imagine it, and trust that your Higher Self knows the way to make your story happen.  

Change the story, change the vibration and change what is being attracted to you.