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Connecting with Pain: The Shaman as the Wounded Healer

Jules Ravenheart
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Connecting with Pain: The Shaman as the Wounded Healer

“The analyst must go on learning endlessly…it is his own hurt that gives the measure of his power to heal.” ~ Carl Jung

The shaman is portrayed in media as somewhat of a witch doctor, using voodoo and chicken’s blood to heal sickness and ailments. But the shaman is much more than this. The shaman is a wounded healer, having suffered through his own dark times and fought his inner demons.

He is a seer and a communicator; he has the ability to consort with spirits and animal guides to assist in the endeavors to release others from their pain. More so, he is a healer of the soul, not the body; a common misconception.

Many Native American tribes believe that if a person falls ill; whether in mind, spirit or body, that an evil spirit has entered him. They believe that if bad luck befalls the entire tribe or land, that it is the spirits that control this. They depend on the shaman to communicate with these spirits, to guide them and protect them.

What then are the characteristics of the shaman? Where do his abilities come from?

Shaman as the Wounded Healer

Carl Jung coined the title “the wounded healer archetype” from the Greek Myth of Chiron. Chiron was a centaur who was wounded by a poison arrow but because he was immortal, he could not die and so spent his days in agony. It was through this agony that he was able to teach others about their own pain.

He was able to identify with them and helped bring about their healing. So too is the way of the shaman. To truly understand suffering, one must also have suffered. Through trials and tribulations, we have the choice to grow and learn. The shaman makes his choice wisely and shares the lessons with those he works with to heal.

One of the ways in which he does this is through ego death. On his path to knowledge, the shaman must confront his ego. It is ego that keeps us wanting for more material things; it is ego that fuels jealousy, and it is ego that kills our self esteem by making us compare ourselves to others. Many equate ego with identity and by losing our sense of self, we are able to see a bigger picture.

Letting go of the belief that we are separate entities and recognizing that we all come from one energy source is necessary in expanding our consciousness. In this unity, we are much more aware of others feelings and shared experiences. By breaking down ego, the shaman is able to put to rest his own selfish desires and focus his energies on others. In doing so, the shaman must die to self and be reborn multiple times.

The shamanic journey begins with an out-of-body experience. This is often achieved through lucid dreaming, deep meditation and psychedelic drugs such as peyote. However, many shamanic initiations begin with a near-death experience. In fact, the correlation of NDE and shamanism is quite high.

Prolong illness can also induce the trance like state that is necessary in entering the spiritual realms. For these reasons, the shaman has usually spent much time suffering physically as well. His connection to sickness and pain propels him in his spiritual quest.

Many wounded healers have experienced trauma in their lives. They have deep mental and emotional scars formed during a painful childhood. It is through these experiences that they develop the intuition for survival. At some point in time, they have gone through a “Dark Night of the Soul” This refers to rock bottom, a critical state of despair.

It is here where internal beliefs crumble and conflict with self arises. In order to recover, the wounded healer retrieves the fragmented parts of their mind, calling back the lost pieces of themselves. In doing so, they are able to transcend their own pain and suffering and realize that there is a choice in healing.

How then, does the broken healer assist others? After his own Dark Night and Ego Death, the shaman is now aware of the unity of pain that connects all living creatures. He has overcome his past, journeyed through his darkness and possesses the skills and knowledge to impart to other wounded souls.

shaman soul

The shaman works in three realms; the upper world; the middle world and the lower world. These three realities are within the psyche and can be travelled at will. He will transverse these inner planes in order to create change and gain knowledge.

The upper world is the domain of the divine, the enlightened and holds the wisdom of all things. The shaman will go here to bring balance, acquire a vision or to influence events in the material world.

The middle world is as though a parallel universe of our own. Here, the spirit of all things living exist and can be interacted with. Similar to astral travel, the shaman uses this realm for locating people and communication over great distances.

The lower world is populated by animal spirits, spirit guides and the dead. It is the place the human soul travels to upon physical death. Work is done here to seek guidance or locate lost spirits.

With courage and internal strength, the wounded healer transform their pain into a well of empathy. Their past personal story can be retold to inspire and heal others in a unique way. Their own spiritual journey can be retraced to help other wounded souls find peace and joy. The shamanic path is not an easy one but the benefits to humanity and the connection to universal healing make it worthwhile.

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Andy Debernardi
Cameron Gray
Ego Death

3 Spiritual Ways to Encourage the Hemispheres of the Brain to Work In Sync

Lauren
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3 Spiritual Ways to Encourage the Hemispheres of the Brain to Work In Sync

“All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” ~ Leonardo Da Vinci

The hemispheres of the brain could be seen to represent this dualistic reality in which we live. And their secrets? The key to unlocking the most obscure mysteries of human capabilities.

We are all pretty well acquainted with the idea of the lateralization of brain function, where certain actions, such as kicking a football, have one hemisphere of the brain more dominant than the other.

Encourage the Hemispheres of the Brain to Work In Sync

We are also probably familiar with the fact that the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body and is intuitive, appreciating music, art, and imagination, and the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body, encouraging analytical thought, numeracy, language, and logic.

So we can already assume that in balancing our habitual actions, we might work towards balancing the use of both hemispheres. But because our whole society is geared towards the left hemisphere of the brain, it’s much trickier than that (in Victorian England, for example, they used to cane children who wrote with their left hands).

Because much of our intuition and imaginative capabilities are suppressed, or in the intuitive person their creativity ignored because they are unable to form arguments into logical progressions that are listened to and are accessible for the mainstream, we can begin to appreciate how exploring the hemispheres is actually so much more about implementing a greater understanding of the spectrum of human understanding. And that is just within the realms of the healthy or un-traumatized person.

The shamanic approach to trauma has many parallels with the neurological approach; the idea that the soul (or brain) has fragmented and (the ability to reason has) actually vacated or gotten lost in the body, leaving the brain stuck in fight or flight mode where the person replays the traumatic event over and over again:

“Traumatic memories stay “stuck” in the brain’s nether regions–the nonverbal, nonconscious, subcortical regions (amygdala, thalamus, hippocampus, hypothalamus and brain stem)–where they are not accessible to the frontal lobes–the understanding, thinking, reasoning parts of the brain. The paradox at the heart of trauma: they see and feel only their trauma, or they see and feel nothing at all.” ~ Theresa Burke Ph.D

A rewiring of the hemispheres and reunion of the frontal lobes with those traumatic memories can be achieved through therapy… or shamanic ritual. But the general idea is to allow the fragments of the body, and soul, to reunite and the individual to become whole again.

With so many people in this traumatized state to varying degrees – even those who experienced neglect that went unnoticed by society and that individual is expected to perform as everyone else – it’s not surprising that so many individuals suffer from depression.

The fragmentation that so many people experience stops them from performing simple acts that they should have been taught as children, such as the fundamental aspects of looking after ourselves. They get overwhelmed and go under.

Balancing the hemispheres can increase our understanding (of those experiencing some degree of trauma, or the ‘other’ in general – are any of us ‘whole’?), and therefore compassion for one another therefore leading to harmonious relationships on a macro and micro cosmic scale.

This would then potentially lead to the integration of dualistic forms within our reality. It could be the key to lifting us into higher dimensions and resolving many human conflicts on a personal (which then leads to a global) scale.

Here are 3 methods to encourage the hemispheres of the brain to work in sync with each other, and encouraging the individual to become whole:

Hand Exploration

Encourage the Hemispheres of the Brain to Work In Sync

As the body part that expresses our inner truths; the hands can begin a dialogue with each hemisphere in order to bring any imbalance to the surface.

A fun exercise is to first write down ten qualities (or faults) you attribute to yourself with your dominant hand.

Then write the same list but with your ‘weak’ hand.

Compare the two.

Analyze subjectively. This may tell you a lot about your patterns; what you are addicted to. Are the two lists at odds with one another, and in what way? Are they similarly self pitying or equally arrogant. Experiment.

Have a conversation with your hemispheres

Write a question with your dominant hand and let the weaker side reply. Ask it questions about problems you have been unable to solve for years. Ask it questions about your problems with the opposite (or same) sex, ask it questions about your patterns with people.

Ask about your reactions to childhood events and what the alternatives could’ve been. Play and explore, it can reveal so much and it can be on the same level as having an out-of-body experience. All you need to know is waiting there in your body for you to unlock it.

Meditate

Another way to encourage the hemispheres of the brain to work in sync is the visualization of becoming whole during meditation. It is advisable to do this alongside becoming completely present (through Vipassana or object focus) rather than letting one dominate the entire session.

Experiment with how you cup your hands in your lap. Imagine the right hand cupping the left signifies the masculine element in you supporting the feminine and vice versa. How does this feel? Is there an aversion to one side?

Notice your posture. Are you slumping to one side? Do you tend to look to one side and what does this mean for you? Is one shoulder sore etc… After noticing these little imbalances that is the body reflecting the mind, accept them, and then gradually and lovingly bring them into alignment and balance with the other side.

COMPbraingears

Complete a chakra clearing and then visualize your entire body in balance with itself. Say aloud ‘I am whole,’ or ‘I am becoming whole and retrieving all fragmented parts of myself.’ ‘I am a balanced and grounded individual’.

Throughout the day notice how you may favour one side (turning on the tap with a certain hand, leading with your left foot etc) and do the opposite.

Also try slowing down or speeding up certain actions to experiment with how that feels and how it might trigger certain emotions or new perspectives.

QiGong or Tai Chi and yoga are also excellent pathways to accessing imbalances in the body and working towards righting them.

Nostril or Kundalini Breathing

Alternating nostrils in order to clear blocked and stagnant energies is similar to using the opposite side of the body when noticing our habitual actions as described in the last method.

Pranayama Tutorial: Nadi Shodhana | Gigi Yogini

Alternating the nostril use relates to alternating the use of which hemisphere we are using, therefore balancing them out. It may also help you to use a neti pot if only to experiment with the ritual of alternate breathing and clean out your sinuses.

In using alternate nostril breathing alongside our yoga or kundalini practices, we connect to our kundalini source energy which is activated at the base of the spine and forms the integration of the two dualities or hemispheres, bridging the gap between separation.

In doing these exercises we might begin to work towards becoming our true selves; ambidextrous, androgynous and bisexual… just joking… In balancing hemispheres we may become whole brained. In short, a genius.

As Jill Bolte-Taylor touches on in this video, in having a breakdown of our left hemispheres we can unlock our spiritual experiences where we are not separate from our environment and balance the ‘I am’ problematic chatter of the left hemisphere.

In balancing the left hemisphere with the right, we can experience our oneness with our environment yet function from an ‘I am’ perspective, if only to enable a wonderful expression of our senses and put forward our contribution to the world.

My stroke of insight | Jill Bolte Taylor | TED

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Left Brain Right Brain

The Nous & the Noose: Achieving Enlightenment Through Philosophical Contemplation

Gary Z McGee
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The Nous & the Noose: Achieving Enlightenment Through Philosophical Contemplation

“We ought not even say that he will see, but he will be that which he sees, if indeed it is possible any longer to distinguish between seer and seen, and not boldly to affirm that the two are one.” ~ Plotinus

The Nous can be thought of as a kind of superconsciousness, divine mind, or meta reasoning conduit between the corporeal and the noncorporeal, between the phenomenal and the noumenal. It’s a concept delivered from Neoplatonism and identified metaphorically with the Demiurge in Plato’s Timaeus.

For the purposes of this article, “The Noose” is being used metaphorically with the concept of death and rebirth; In the sense that one’s ignorance and innocence must “die” in order for one’s Nous, or divine mind, to become manifest.

Henosis, or ecstatic union with the One (God) is a self-overcoming into interdependent interconnectedness, or put simply, enlightenment; which can potentially be obtained through concentration (mindfulness), meditation (the nous, divine mind), and surrender (of self into World-Soul). Let’s break it down…ego-death

Contemplation and the Mind

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” ~ Ernest Hemmingway

The potential for enlightenment must always begin with mindfulness. But becoming mindful, to reality as it is, and to us as we are, is no walk in the park. It requires spiritual, existential, and even ontological upheaval. It requires ego-sacrifice and soul retrieval, which is likely to cause trepidation in the mind, body, and soul.

The ego descends and the soul ascends, retracing its steps back to the supreme ordeal, the Infinite, the Divine. But it must, first of all, experience trial by spiritual fire. The ego-soul (primarily ego-centric) must pass through an existential curriculum; a cocoon phase of sorts, where the egoic self dissolves into the soul-centric self through ego-death. Hence the concept of the noose.

One can imagine the petty, ignorant, ego-centric, blind innocence of the self being metaphorically “hung” from the gallows of spiritual knowledge, gleaned from contemplation and mindfulness.

Through deep contemplation of the multiplicity of things and the harmony of opposites, the ego withdraws into itself and is annihilated, thus becoming the soul-ego (primarily soul-centric), which is capable of meditating in harmony with the primeval Nous.

Meditation and the Nous

“Where we put our awareness, and for how long, maps our destiny.” ~ Joe Dispenza

Alex Grey The Soul Finds It e1487836746252Now soul-aware, spiritually conscious, or superconscious, the self-overcoming individual is free to delve deeper into mindfulness and into no-mind: the epitome of the Nous. The surrender of spiritual ignorance to “the Noose” leads to existential transcendence within the Nous. This is the souls withdrawal into the depths of being, where “Logos” the principle of meditation and the interrelationship between the soul and the Infinite becomes self-actualized.

Rising into the Nous is rising into a world of ideas, where the interconnectedness of all ideas is an interdependence of all things perceived through logos, divine mind, deep thought, and reason.

The Nous is the perfect image of the infinite and the archetype of all phenomenal things, as perceived through the awakened mind (third eye). It is a platform connecting the noumenal to the phenomenal, where both being and thought, idea and ideal, exist simultaneously.

The Noose “hangs” ignorance by the neck. The Nous revives Divine knowledge by the wings. But, and here’s the rub, even the Nous must act as a noose if true enlightenment is to occur. Indeed, there must be a letting go, a sacrifice even of divine knowledge gained in order to achieve spiritual union with the Infinite (God).

The Noose-Nous dynamic is thus a cyclical process. The noose “kills” ignorance, even as the nous resurrects divine knowledge, even as the nous “kills” divine knowledge in order to become one with “the One”, the creative principal of all things, beyond being.

Surrender and Henosis:

“Truth is a staff rejected” ~ unknown

As derivative, the Infinite is entirely different than the Nous. Where the Nous is a finite fractal, the Infinite is an infinite Mandelbrot containing infinite fractals (nous’). The Nous, just happens to be the highest level of contemplation into the Infinite that the (finite perceiving) mind can access. Where the Nous is pure logos, the Infinite is pure-full stop. It is everything and nothing intermittently.

Henosis, according to Plotinus, is the concept of attaining ecstatic union with “the One“, or the Infinite. Like enlightenment, it is not a permanence but an essence that can be dipped into but never maintained. The Nous used as a noose (surrender) loosens the souls grip on the phenomenal world and allows one to “taste” the noumenal.

This “tasting” is an ecstatic, mind-altering, soul-shattering experience that forever alters the way the soul-ego perceives reality. The soul-world concept thus becomes manifest, where the world-as-self and self-as-world becomes cosmos-as self and self-as cosmos which becomes self-as God and God-as self. Where Meister Eckhart’s words, “The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me,” becomes self-actualized.

In the end, even Henosis must be surrendered, even Buddha must be “killed” on the path, even Enlightenment must be let go. For impermanence is the only permanent, and the soul must breathe. Indeed. Enlightenment is less a state one achieves, and more a humor one senses; less a fixed state, and more a flexible journey that we must, above all, allow to be the thing.

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Art by Adam Scott Miller

9 Types of Lightworkers: Which Ones Do You Resonate With?

Lauren
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9 Types of Lightworkers: Which Ones Do You Resonate With?

The word lightworker may be one that you would not apply to yourself. You may attribute it to a slightly odd branch of new age philosophy, or even despise the thought that some people see themselves as anything other than human.

This was my interpretation for many years, but as I pass through the last dregs of the hermetic – or even dark night of the soul – phase of my spiritual path, the more these abilities or nuances surface that most certainly weren’t there before. Perhaps you have noticed them too.

Here are 9 types of Lightworkers and a description of each one:

Gridworkers

CrystallineEarthgrid1

Gridworkers work on the grids and gateways of the earth. If you’re familiar with the earth’s ley lines then you’ll be familiar with the belief that the earth has chakras and is a living, breathing organism.

Gridworkers tap into the crystalline grid, which can be likened to the earth’s nervous system, and is believed to be one of the ways the earth was seeded.

The crystalline grid is a creation theory of the history of the earth, and whether you believe it or not, there are many lightworkers who use their abilities to sense where dark energies exist on a spatial plane.

Gridworkers could also be seen as spatial empaths; people who sense a karmic imprint when they enter a certain building, town, stretch of coast etc and are able to use that sense to transmute those dense energies with their compassion and loving presence.

For those who believe in archangels you may be familiar with Archangel Michael’s violet flame; a visualization technique that can be adopted by those who know themselves to be a lightworker sensitive to spaces. When you recognise you’re in a place that holds those dense energies, rather than become overwhelmed by them, send a loving violet flame into that area in order to cleanse it.

Frequency Workers

A more general lightworker’s path is to be someone who aims to keep their frequencies high and transmute denser energies as they encounter them. This is easier said than done, especially when it appears that the whole ‘matrix’ or third dimensional reality – one which has a dualistic framework and thrives on the law of polarity – is dense and will constantly lower your frequencies as you practice not being affected by it.

types of lightworkers

The experience is similar to surviving in a mad house where you know you’re sane but nobody believes you. Instead, try keeping your abilities and knowledge to yourself and nurture and cleanse yourself constantly.

Being a frequency worker is tough because you are sensitive to news stories, people, places, agreements, beliefs… you may feel like you don’t want to leave the house. Instead, try to not take anything personally and integrate a solid attitude of self care into your existence.

It’s good to have a few trusted friends or a site (like this one!) or youtube channel where you can increase your frequencies and know you are safe and understood. You are embodying the light and that is an amazing service. Hats off to you.

Transmuting Darkness/ A Timeline Worker

If you are a particularly powerful empath and lightworker then you will be aware of timelines and the bleeding together and compression of time and action. That is, once you become aware of your ability to change a timeline (like stepping on to a parallel reality – one you’d prefer to be on obviously); you become aware of how this decision and action changes everyone else’s reality too.

A timeline worker is able to take responsibility for an ancestral timeline for example, and absolve their family karma if their ancestors have racked up a lot of karma. A timeline worker embodies the knowledge that we are One, and takes the helm of this transmutation, lighting the way for others to follow. What you will find is the more you progress, the increasing number of darker entities will be attracted to you.

They desire your compassion and actually need help. This is why, during meditation or throughout our day, those with strong empathic qualities will find thoughts that are sometimes alarming and extremely dark floating into their heads. They really don’t belong to us, and that is why meditation is fantastic because it offers us the tools for dissolving them with loving compassion.

Third Eye/Future Seers

DigitalGodSource

Also known as clairvoyants. Seeing into the future is also a side effect of becoming aware of timelines. Third eye seers may get confused as to what everyone else’s reality is and may feel isolated from and misunderstood by others, but they will also be excellent at personal and even instant manifestation.

The trouble, they may find, is that knowing the outcome can detract them from the process they desire and be surprised by the universe and therefore can trip themselves up before they’ve even begun.

Bringing reality up to the same level of your expert third eye will be the challenge, as well as remembering to lovingly help others and not just use your abilities for personal gain.

Blueprint Workers

Holding the divine blueprint for the awakened earth and the whole of humanity may seem like a stretch of the imagination at first, and, much like the frequency and third eye lightworkers, you may be seen as weird or on drugs if you feel the need to share your visions with friends and family, but please keep the faith.

Holding the blueprint for the new earth, or a heavenly version of human’s existence here on this planet is possible. So what does it look like? This is up to you to imagine and manifest through your own speech and actions.

Astral Travellers

out of body

Arriving at this vision may require you to better pay attention to your dreams or out-of-body experiences, if you are able to have and be aware of them.

In becoming a lucid dreamer you can voluntarily enter the Akashic records and access this ripple of potential or well of experience; asking questions and discovering what this alternative and harmonious ways of living could look like.

Messenger

Rather than acting on these visions, you may be a lightworker good at carrying messages. Though popular entertainment may have its pitfalls, it has been the most prevalent medium for messages to filter through into the mainstream consciousness for years, something which has escalated in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The mainstream population don’t just get their knowledge from popular culture for no reason; think The Matrix, E.T, Donnie Darko, The Davinci Code, Cloud Atlas, not to mention the lyrics of legendary singers such as Bob Marley.

These ‘messages’ carry an imprint with them and are often channelled in moments of heightened creativity where the conduit moves up into 4th or 5th dimensional frameworks and is able to channel the themes into a creative piece of art. Forget muses, a messenger lightworker is able to communicate these higher patterns to the masses in the form of undercover service, heightening vibrations and the collective unconscious.

Active Blueprint Weavers

Having accessed the Akashic records during a dream exploration, or perhaps moving up through the dimensions whilst raising their frequencies, an active lightworker will carry back an idea; usually an invention (think Nikola Telsa) or idea that can enhance our lives and manifest the global awakening by putting it into action.

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These kind of lightworkers are what the world needs more than ever and will replace political figures, bankers and business men who have been serving themselves for thousands of years.

Indigo, rainbow and crystal children especially have been springing up in this capacity; bringing fantastic inventions that could rock the world and completely reduce pollution and the abuse of resources.

These active blueprint weavers must start by removing their own carbon footprints and living in harmonious co-creation with others and start from there.

Wayshowers

The Wayshowers are those who have done it; they’re the ascended first wave who are teaching others how to ascend and join them in the 5th dimension.

The 5th dimension is not a place, rather the same reality but where an individual is vibrating at a different frequency and are embodying the enlightened human. Their outer reality reflects their inner one and they are not suffering, rather are living their truth and are prosperous having mastered (and gone beyond) the 3rd dimensional material reality. This is often misunderstood in that we see Wayshowers as being monastic and owning nothing. That they’ve dedicated their lives to the truth.

Rather than being without, they have simply transcended the fear of lack. This means that they don’t need to plan for the future but trust that their higher selves will direct them and the universe has provided them with everything they need; life flowers for them in the moment and they have no need to survive but simply be.

So there it is the 9 types of lightworkers. You may find you have all or some of these attributes, but you most likely have at least one. There is a wealth of knowledge out there for each specific lightworker path, and last but certainly not least, the fountain of your own inner knowing.

The 11 Types of Lightworkers Helping Earth Ascend- How Lightworkers Gifts Manifest

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Portal
Astral Projection

Cognitive Dissonance, Mass Media And the Enslavement of the Human Race

Lauren
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Cognitive Dissonance, Mass Media And the Enslavement of the Human Race

“You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting “Vanity,” thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for you own pleasure.” ~ John Berger, Ways of Seeing

John Berger’s quote about the representation of women in the media serves as the perfect introduction to his groundbreaking theories about consumerism, which were laid out in the popular 1970s TV series Ways of Seeing.

Available on YouTube, this programme essentially highlights the problem of cognitive dissonance and how it is used to create a purposeful conflict in the general public through entertainment and media outlets, although perhaps Berger wasn’t entirely aware of the depth of the implications when he wrote it.

In the clip below, Berger studies a magazine and shows us how, although an article has been written with gritty photographs depicting refugees on one page, on the right next to it and presented as completely unrelated, there is an advert that sells a product by depicting a lifestyle.

If you buy this you will be sexually desirable and at the top of the social ladder. (Magazine analysis near the end of this video):

https://youtu.be/8wxRxSfhw6I?si=NDP-5AcH2luIybT3

This kind of study of the language of imagery in the media and our ad literacy has been familiar to me since I was at school. But it is only recently that I have begun to fully comprehend the significance of it.

I always felt uneasy whilst living in London, which like any cosmopolitan capital meant being literally pumped daily with advertising and the message of consumerism; you are not complete until you buy this product. But it’s never struck me as entirely nefarious. It’s just the way the world works… right?

Cognitive Dissonance and enslavement of the human race

Cognitive dissonance is the experience of being psychologically unstable because you are simultaneously holding two conflicting beliefs that can confuse your interpretation of reality. But when you apply it to cultural narratives, it can be likened to doublethink; a term popularised by George Orwell’s 1984.

The idea that we are purposefully being bombarded by conflicting and contradicting representations of the world, as Berger brought to light with his magazine analysis, means that we have no actual grip on the reality of the situation, or the trouble that is prevalent on a global scale. Like the adverts selling perfume in contrast to the reality of the factory workers that make it, our world is off kilter; psychologically unstable and dangerously so.

Cognitive dissonance

The gap between east and west; consumerism and poverty has been well documented by social theorists such Noam Chomsky, Jean Baudrillard and Naomi Klein. But beyond theorizing about these crippling problems it feels like the action taken has been fragmented and essentially futile. Or is that what the mass media want you to think?

Many grassroots movements and protests are constantly springing up across the world, perhaps precisely because of the deception and distortion that the media present, as soon as the movement starts to appeal to the human spirit and we feel we are getting somewhere, it suspiciously disappears from our news screens.

All in all it ‘appears’ that the problems aren’t showing any sign of shifting or reaching resolution. Until now. As the discrepancies begin to filter in to our mainstream media and the atrocities of deception and spin are surfacing, we can finally start to take action and decide for ourselves what is real and what is not.

You don’t need to read Jean Baudrillard to understand the cultural narrative of the intelligence of evil; that presentation of good and evil the media thrives on which distracts us from the real undercurrents of evil; the enslavement of the human race.

As much as we know that 1% of the earth’s population make more in the first three days of the year than the most well paid of us do in a year (ironically, because we read it in a newspaper), we also know that this enslavement is occurring. And that only goes to show how enslaved we truly are.

It is probably because the 1% who own the media companies have created these huge gaps in society precisely by pumping the masses with feelings of disempowerment (you are only complete if you buy this product) for centuries. However, as the world wakes up, the curtain of illusion is beginning to part, it is now that these examples of inequality and gross breaches of human rights are really coming to a head.

As most of the world unwittingly manifest world war three (it’s not necessary, please visualize and believe in the realization of heaven on earth for ALL) and the gap has become so wide it is like teetering on the edge of a deep ravine (again engineered by the mass media) we see that the age of disinformation has plunged the depths of hype and is crumbling around our very ears.

We don’t know what to believe anymore. It’s only by taking back our power and becoming autonomous and claiming back our sovereignty that will we overcome it. But first, we need to be able to spot it.

Consent

How to spot manipulation:

Notice patterns.

Notice how the media report on people’s downfalls and their ugly side. Notice how the themes of murder and sex are prevalent. Notice how the media thrives on character assassination and assumption. A picture tells a thousand words, but are they accurate ones?

The pain body.

The media thrive on triggering people’s pain bodies; that is, by reminding them they are not enough. It also strives on reminding us constantly of our own mortality. In fact, this is the main fear that is pumped into us; you need life insurance, you need to buy a house because time is running out, you need to get married because time is running out, you need to have children and sacrifice them to the system because time is running out.

all of life

There’s always this urgency to advertising and news stories alike, and it’s triggering the ego. That is because when we just be, we create wonderful things and step into our higher aspects or superhuman – that is, our true – abilities.

What the media sells us is grasping; the desire to be somewhere or someone else therefore triggering our original wounds. It reminds us constantly that we will not be loved unless we move away from ourselves. When anyone who has ever done meditation will know, that bliss and contentment lies in coming into ourselves and accepting the moment as it is.

The voice of reason.

I always notice that even seemingly benign media outlets and radio stations here in the UK adopt this male voice of reason (women are obviously encouraged to emulate it) that is delivered in received pronunciation and is immune to any emotion or flights of fancy.

It’s like the voice of your father; I’m going to tell you how it is and you are to accept it without question because I am the head of this family. This voice is particularly good at dismissing anything that cannot be reasoned with, and this really is the greatest fear of the British anyway. The lack of reason… which is probably how Gandhi defeated us with it.

Consider the motivation.

The motivation you need to spot is that of war. Become literate in how everything, even the above voice of reason, creates a gap between people. As insanity is seen as anything that operates outside the confines of what is acceptable in a society, so too is the threat of deviating from it. You will be sentenced to insanity if you disagree. That is also how character assassination works.

Character assassination could be seen as anything that doesn’t take in to consideration the human qualities of a person. This also applies to seeing a group of people as monsters or inhumane. Before you can overcome something you need to have compassion for it, but the mass media adopts more of a ‘they’re going to kill us’ kind of tone that sets off our fight or flight responses and drives fear deeper inside of us, again driving a larger gap between us.

10 Media manipulation strategies by Noam Chomsky

The same applies to victim blaming; an analysis of the wording of rape culture is a good example. The headline ‘Woman raped’ removes the rapist and therefore their part in the crime entirely. This example of cognitive dissonance that Berger also highlighted because of its condemnation of women could also be seen as a device for keeping us from the divine feminine.

Because what does discovering the divine feminine (in alignment with the positive masculine) within ourselves stand for when toxic patriarchy rules the world?

It stands for Peace.Overcoming all these programmes of fear the mass media has been pumping us with since the day of our birth is to consider the alternatives and take responsibility for ourselves entirely. Cut out all media for a week and notice how you feel.

Study your wounds; to do with women, your parents, society, being accepted or rejected without the white noise of the media interfering for a while. Then you can begin to see the moment that fear enters your body when you do read a headline.

What is the alternative in the world? Come into your own power by educating yourself on the wealth of spiritual practices out there that are available and don’t cost a penny. This is the future of the planet! Autonomy and peace. We owe it to ourselves.

Image source

Mass Media
John Berger

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