The Human Journey

All the while struggling with the never-ending thought-emotion-feeling cycle that our survival-self keeps our minds preoccupied with.

A Hero’s Journey is the basic structure behind all major mythologies, including many of our modern day movies, such as Star Wars. It involves a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed. This storyline is easy for each of us to associate with for a very good reason. We are each individually on our own journey. One that has a definitive beginning point and ending point. A life journey that is filled with temptations and challenges, where we are influenced by guides and mentors. The journey challenge is the same for each one of us: Find your authentic self and establish a deeply meaningful and lasting relationship with yourself. Unfortunately, failure to achieve this is an option and for a large number of people that remain in survival mode throughout life is common. It is not an easy journey, but it is monumentally fulfilling as you make your personal self-discoveries.

Call to Adventure and Crossing the Threshold

How we got here is one of the biggest mysteries we carry within. As you read, please keep an open mind to the possibility of a story that we may want to tell ourselves in order to provide a framework that can find consistency with a broad spectrum of belief systems. While at the same time giving us personal meaning toward finding our inner true nature. You live your entire life within your own mind, and the only thing that you can really do in life is to develop a deep relationship with who you truly are. This idea is tossed about without explanation and sounds nice for “others.” The reality is that you must find it for yourself. Nobody can explain your own path to you, but you can open your mind to guides, mentors, and helpers along the way. Connect your dots and your path will start to emerge. Lean in to the uncomfortable, let go of your fears, and realize that you arrived here with nothing, and you will leave here with nothing other than your interpersonal experience. This is your journey. Put some effort into figuring out what that means. Part of this story includes the hard-to-believe idea that you actually chose this on another plain of consciousness. Something motivated you to want life and something motivates you to want to live. Even if you think that this storyline is untrue, it is far better to accept it and lean into it hard, because the harder you lean into it, the more magical you will find your life unfolding.

We start our journey from the supernatural event of the creation-of-life through birth. We step foot into this world at the threshold level with guardians that tend to our infant needs. We grow over time with helpers and mentors that may or may not be able to arm us with the tools we need to face out personal challenges down the road as we mature into our body and mind.

Challenges and Temptations

The first half of life is developmental. One fades into existence in the first three years of life when we realize individualization and discover the self. The next few childhood years of life are filled with challenges that are handed to us by family, peers, and community. As we mature into adolescence, we reach mastery of our own experiences to ever increasing degrees. Still heavily influenced by the characteristics that we took on from others during our upbringing, we are now faced with “finding ourselves.” This all happens amongst a flood of growth hormones in the first half of adolescence and sex hormones that roll along until middle age. Eventually all of this biology subsides to a more manageable level, but by this time we have habits and beliefs that are hardening and impacting life.

Temptations are offered along the way in the form of all of the obvious “vices” of money, drugs, sex, entertainment, and other mind-numbing activities. Choices in how one engages in mind development and group association will highly impact one’s life as they mature into middle age. This all adds to the shadow-self and for many people will become a lifelong habit for how they think and how they live their lives. It is at this stage that one faces their most monumental challenge: Will you jump into the abyss of your own mind and bring light to all that ails mentally and physically? Will you seek to die to your old patterned-way-self and become reborn to a lighter and more accepting individual that experiences life in the higher emotions? The path into Revelation is difficult and painful, and it only gets harder the older you become and the longer you put off making progress on your journey.

The Abyss

The abyss is where the shadow-self resides. Each one of us has a subconscious where we put our shadow’s hidden elements. These are experiences that we cannot deal with, so we “shut them out.” Each of those unwanted personality elements is actually placed into our subconscious and once there they become our shadow-self. Most people are not even aware that they have a shadow-self, let alone what they have been putting there. This all starts at about the age of six.

We all face challenges and temptations during our youth as we formulate “who we are.” As we socialize, we test certain behaviors that we may eventually find deplorable, and we park away those parts of ourselves that we deem unacceptable. For many people these may be traits like sadness, rage, laziness, and cruelty. Things that you may deem uncivilized and unacceptable. For others it may actually include personal power, independence, or emotional sensitivity. This may become a feedback loop, and as people experience even more severe challenges and temptations, the shadow-self gets more complicated and solidified to the point that one’s behavior becomes driven by the subconscious.

This only gets worse with age. Neural pathways have physically formed in the brain that keep these thought patterns consistent. A fully packed shadow results in a person that has difficult relationships because they cannot accept someone’s behavior which reflects elements within their own shadow. This adds further layers to one’s journey with even more challenges in life. A large percentage of people live their lives in this state, never having realized their true potential. They often die confused and unhappy, which is a sure sign that they missed their mark on this life of theirs.

Leveling up starts at the moment of revelation. When one realizes that they are the master of their own journey…that there is something that they can actively do to shape it. It starts with shadow work. This is the fundamental abyss. They must be the light that illuminates each element of their shadow-self. Only when each element is faced head-on can they begin to transform.

As one actively addresses the heaviest shadow elements, they begin to reveal what was previously unknown in their conscious awareness. Revelation is often a surprising and dramatic self-realization of the root cause of some of the most damaging afflictions, such as fear, anxiety, depression, apathy, and many other root challenges that people face during a lifetime.

Transformation and Atonement

Initiating shadow work is a major hurdle that often takes the help of mentors and guides to put into motion. Our cultural view of mental health has not traditionally been supportive of doing this type of work, as it is seen as weak and admitting to being flawed in some way. In addition the depth that one lives with their shadow without realizing the monumental impact is hard to explain. Most people just think that everyone is living under similar internal conditions, but for some reason they are uniquely struggling and unable to process in ways that others appear to be managing life “successfully.” Transformation occurs after taking the leap into the abyss and eventually finding the authentic self. At a certain point this becomes self-propelling. Eventually self-motivation kicks in and a snowballing effect takes place where one can continue a life of transformation as they level up and follow the meaning that they create for themselves in this life.

Atonement is self-actualization. The phase of discovery where one has a deep and meaningful relationship with themselves. One realizes their all-powerful beingness. That they are fully connected to everyone and everything. Helping others becomes second nature, because helping others is akin to helping oneself. Self-love and compassion are available for projection to others.

At the end of the journey there is always the return. This return is a fading back to the spirit from whence we started. Having achieved transformation and atonement, we have leveled up our soul. We are able to join back to spirit having achieved the goals for taking the journey in the first place.

The journey that you are on will only take you into the abyss, if you choose to take that leap. Shine a light into the dark corners of your soul and foster compassionate self-reverence. Only then can you know who you truly are.

How We Engage With The Journey

The Subconscious and the Unconscious: Each of us actively engages with a small fraction of our mind, maybe about five percent, which is the part that we label as self. This is our personality, character, sense perception, accessible memory, thought, feeling, emotion, decision making, and all that goes along with what we think comprises the active part of our mind. We will call this our survival-self because its main function is to provide us with a framework in which to operate, to keep us safe and alive.

The other 95 percent of the mind is made up of the subconscious and the unconscious. The best way to think of these two elements within the framework of our storyline is subconscious as one’s soul and unconscious as one’s connection to spirit. We are each also connected to our one-human tribe by way of the collective unconscious where we influence each other in ways that are far from obvious.

Your subconscious and unconscious are controlling you, and you have no idea how significantly. Most of your thoughts well up like bubbles in a bubble bath, constantly flowing despite any desire to have them. Sometimes you do intentionally engage in thought in order to work something out. But there is no easy way to put it to rest when done, as one might do with an arm or a leg. It just keeps flowing, and oftentimes from the level of low-survival emotions that include fear and frustration. All from the subconscious, and as mentioned, from your shadow-self. Your beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and emotions are completely colored by your subconscious and shadow-self.

In keeping with our storyline previously suggested, your unconscious (and the collective unconscious) can be seen as your connection to spirit. It is important to understand that spirit does not judge. There is no good or evil from its perspective. Everything is always a shade of love from its view, because our small soulful part is an extension of spirit and can never be damaged in any way. It learns a lot by observing horrors like the holocaust or the triumphs of freedom. It has no concern for how we play our parts. It was our spirit-self that took on this role in this world in order to take the challenge of piling on a thick layer of survival emotions to see if we could dig our way out and grow emotionally from the challenges faced. The labyrinth of finding our own way back to unconditional pure love. All the struggles that humanity experiences along the way, such as abuse, rape, and one’s response to loss are part of the game that we signed up for. The number of souls playing the game alongside us that fail along the way become a part of our own personal challenges.

Shadow Work

Shadow work comes in many forms. This is also part of your journey by figuring out what works for you. How your efforts to self-improve pay off toward the end goal of transformation and atonement. For many people this may result in baby steps in this life, followed by baby steps in the next life. For some, they may achieve insight and understanding that they can carry forward.

Doing basic things like exercise, healthy eating, and keeping normal and fulfilling sleep patterns is monumental. Without these, one cannot really progress. But not “wanting” to do these things is directly tied to elements within the shadow-self that relate to self-worth and self-respect. Daily mindfulness and meditation practices are another basic, but fundamental, factor that provides a direct connection to one’s inner authentic self. Journaling is a window into the subconscious and allows one to unpack elements of one’s own shadow-self. Writing down challenges allows one to express all the words and thoughts that relate to their situation. This begins to tap communication with the subconscious. There is no direct way to communicate with the subconscious, but journaling makes a connection with thought patterns and beliefs that will give the subconscious a voice. Be sure not to “try to write” but practice auto-writing. Record everything that comes to mind, even if it doesn’t seem thought through or represent your normal thoughts. Beyond this point, the steps toward shadow work generally involve mentors and guides. Therapists, friends that don’t drag you down, shamans, yoga instructors, hypnotherapists, breathwork, and healing centers all provide options for further healing and leveling up.

Mind, body and soul work together to form life and your personal reality…a life that is solely made up of nothing but experiences, thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It is of supreme importance that these be balanced and that one lives a life that supports that balance. As mundane and cliché as a healthy lifestyle may sound, imbalance in this area is a significant part of the abyss that you must traverse in order to authentically transform.

Beliefs

Your beliefs mostly come from your subconscious. They are then translated by your survival-self. Most people start out with beliefs from family, peers, and culture. Those beliefs are shaped further by the unresolved elements of the shadow-self where they are molded into protective shields to keep you from having to encounter the things that you fear. Also to combat the characteristics in others that you dislike because of what they represent within your own subconscious. Are your beliefs serving you? Are they intentional and meaningful? Or are they random and disconnected? Are they conflicting? Are you even consciously aware of them? One should analyze their beliefs and craft them in a way that helps achieve goals, wishes, and purpose. Then plan to evolve them as you evolve. Doing shadow work will cause these beliefs to change over time and may draw attention to some beliefs unrealized or unmanageable. Beliefs are everything. You really only have your experience, and it is directly impacted by your belief system.

Beliefs are also extremely destructive. In our lifetime we have experienced two main forces: religion and science. Whether we like it or not, those two things have clouded and colored our belief systems. Science knows far less than people realize, likely less than 1% of the visible universe. It is mostly focused on the measurement of the material world, which is incredibly useful, but does not provide a comprehensive story. Our personal experiences and journeys are not material objects, and they cannot be measured by science. We will live and die with only our experiences. The discussion thus far has included some loaded words like spirit and soul with intention. Human beings are storytellers, and we must tell ourselves a story at all times. We do this on micro and macro scales. Our stories are directly tied to our belief systems. In the end, we must have a story and we must have a belief system. How are we going to craft those from our extremely limited perspective? We as individuals do not understand enough science to come up with our own theory of everything. Religion has been tasked over time with helping us come to terms with existence and death. There are actually a number of incredibly useful philosophies underpinning every world religion, but they have become twisted in a number of ways. They are full of rules and judgment, politics, and control, and have become weapons of the unconscious collective of man. These fundamental philosophies of existence are not the main message of organized religions any longer.

I propose that formulating a belief system along this storyline that includes the depth psychology theories of survival-self, subconscious, shadow work, unconscious, and collective unconscious, as it relates to The Hero’s Journey, to make a connection with the authentic self and live out the remainder of life aligned with the higher emotions, soul, and spirit, is a far better paradigm than the one that is available to most of us today. A belief in science alone suggests that we are random accidents and that somehow consciousness comes out of matter. That life and death have no meaning except as found in the material goods that we secure and protect. A belief in modern organized religion provides a fear system. One that requires you to believe and behave in a particular way, else you will end up spending eternity in pain and suffering. And that one must make a sacrifice of their authenticity in order to fulfill this obligation. In the end, it doesn’t matter if science, or a particular religion is correct in these views. Nor does it matter that this storyline that I propose has unprovable elements. The only thing that matters is for you to develop belief systems for yourself. For you to find meaning and purpose in your journey that will elevate your experiences and relationships. There is no limit to the height of your becoming. It is non-invasive. It is healing. It is vastly more enjoyable. There is literally no downside to this storyline.

The interesting thing about both science and religion is that they are each actually in support of this depth psychology paradigm and a Hero’s Journey. Quantum mechanics has discovered that the “building blocks” of the universe are actually subatomic particles that are of themselves unrealized potential waiting to become. As previously mentioned, the underlying philosophy of all religions has enormous supportive and meaningful mythology that just needs to be parsed out to realize.

Using your intuition to formulate a belief system is a very good place to start. Keep in mind that your intuition is often depressed by the survival-self. Doing shadow work in order to form a deeper relationship with your intuition is necessary. One may need to take a leap of faith to undertake shadow work in order to develop a meaningful belief system. One may even need to hit rock bottom and glimpse an open door to commence shadow work, just to refrain from wanting to check out of life prematurely.

Authentic Self

All of this requires an enormous amount of effort. Especially since we start out under a layer of muck before we even start to have a self-realized set of thoughts about who we are.

When you re-discover your authentic self, you are reborn. Shadow work results in compassion for your shadow elements, brings light into your experience and supports self-reflective love and confidence. You will transform because you will have a direct line to a wider scope of your subconscious by establishing a relationship where you can trust yourself fully and completely. You will recognize your innate knowledge. You will accept your intuitions as second nature and not question them. You will find inspiration that will flow on a steady and regular basis. Creativity will flow in both problem solving and artistic ways. You will be energized and motivated organically to do things, have experiences, and try new things. You will have courage to let go of the things that weren’t meant to be. You will experience all of the higher emotions more frequently. It will become surprising when you find yourself momentarily falling into an old survival-self low emotional thought pattern. You will catch yourself, realize your self-love and respect, and gently flow back to equilibrium. The high that one temporarily feels with substances is the same high that is available to us at all times using our own natural brain chemistry. We must first put ourselves onto a path where we disassociate from the low survival emotions. The higher emotions will seep into that space as the default mode.

One’s authentic self already exists, but it is buried under all the layers discussed. The journey is to find it, engage with it, let it transform you, and atone. Become self-actualized and remember. Remember that you are just the soulful tip of an iceberg of spirit that permeates everything that we see, touch, and experience in this world.

Why go on the Journey?

In your current state of mind and body, you are responding emotionally to your experience. As you elevate and transform to your authentic self and shed the association with shadow and survival emotions, you will get high. The buzzing feeling that you get when you are getting ready to depart on a vacation with friends and you know that there is going to be a very good time to be had just around the corner…that is a natural high. In this state of mind, you are in a great mood. Creativity, acceptance, and flexibility are abundant. This feeling is both emotional and physical. You have energy that spontaneously erupts that is lasting and genuine. This high is available to you far more frequently than the one time that you get to depart on this vacation. It is available to you weekly and daily, but only if you do the work to find the authentic self and trust that everything will work in a direction that will continue your interpersonal growth. Even things that seem “bad” that may come along only seem that way because you associate with old patterned thinking you have from the immense power of survival emotions. Life is a rollercoaster for a reason. One cannot learn anything without having an equal number of “bad” things that happen as “good” things that happen. Spiritual growth comes in the form of how you react to these things…good and bad. People that appear to be successful only appear that way because they have figured out how to navigate both the good and the bad and make it all work for them without tearing them down along the way.

Your emotional life experience is always going to be about your perception, never anything else. No external event, person, or thing can drag you down or lift you up. Your internal perspective is the only source of your power, and it is also the only thing that you can “control,” once you put effort into discovering authentic-self source powers from within.

Meaning

Life has no intrinsic meaning. You are here in order to give it meaning.

We live in the shadow of reality. A shadow of our own making. We fear the world and what it might do to us, so we create a shadow of our own world, and we hide inside of it. We do not realize that the world is far more accepting if we live true to ourselves.

The world only wants for us to live out loud. Our own individually unique selves. For if you live true, you will make the world a whole and beautiful place. We don’t trust the world. We don’t trust ourselves. We don’t realize that we are the world, and it needs for us to live true.

If you live in the depth of yourself, you feel meaning and connection. If you remain in the shallows, you feel lost and apathetic. One must find the depth of the inner core to feel the connection with everything. The shallows have no connection, only emptiness. Meaning is felt in the richness of music, senses, taste, feelings, art, and the depth of authenticity. Shape your meaning by putting heart and soul into crafting and experiencing. Do things for the sake of intentional focus, artistic compassion, and internal loving creativity. The only meaning that the material world provides is that it acts as a stage on which to grow your emotional experience and intelligence.