I get it that my chosen title is a bit grandiose. But we are building a new world and I’ve been reminded while here in Peru that there are some basic building blocks that not everyone was taught in elementary school that might help. So before wandering on thru more of what I’ve learned here, I figure it makes sense to begin at the beginning.
These points come from teaching I’ve received from many sources over many years. It’s been fun for me to hear some of them repeated here again here in my learning experiences with the Andean tradition and the Q’ero people.
1- You are an awakened, enlightened being!
Yep, all that’s needed is onboard, folks. it’s not so much a matter of finding the right religion, guru, workshop or new book to find answers. It’s about unlearning all the stuff that’s been slapped on you thru this life experience.
When you stepped into your physical body, you became spirit AND physical. Many of us born in modern Western society have not been encouraged to remember that first, we are spirit. It makes most parents nervous when their small children see invisible beings, have imaginary friends and remember bits from past lives… so we tell them to “stop making things up” and in time we tune out the spirit realm.
The spirit part of you never went away. Your spiritual self is part of the higher realm. To me, each of us is a part of, connected to, contain the same energy as the “all that is,” the creative power of the universe. Yes, each of us is all that. As adults, we just have to cultivate ways to reconnect, remember… thru meditation, calming skills and other practices that turns our focus from our busy “real” world back to sense the unseen again.
So you don’t have to run away from who you think you are, you don’t have to change a bunch of stuff…. you just have to remember that you are amazing, wise, enlightened and awakened spiritual being housed in a human body that often argues with the idea. Embrace that power and slowly make changes accordingly.
2. All people are awakened, enlightened beings, some just aren’t aware of it yet.
Yes, even those people who you love to hate… they are spirit in body just like you. Find a way to love them, and that love energy will help ignite a deeper awareness…. not from your words, your wishes, your insistence.. just love will turn lights on, when the time is right for that person. ( Note, this is not a suggestion that you accept unkind treatment from another… walk away from that crap. I’m more thinking about that person- a boss, a political figure, someone who spouts off loudly and you just can’t stand them… ya know?)
There’s a practice here that I used to hate… but it’s grown on me. Let’s try it, if you’re willing to stretch a bit. First, call to mind that person you love to hate. Just call them to mind, you don’t need to dive into the pit of “I f’in hate that m’r f’r.” (grin.) Now, visualize that being as spirit and body… every thing in our planet is. Your person may not be aware they have a spiritual self but it’s in there. Take a deep breath and acknowledge that spirit self and send it love. Now, step back and let it go. There are teachers who believe that just acknowledging the spirit empowers that person’s spirit self thus creating an energy that might help the being you’re thinking about to become aware of their higher self.
You don’t tell the other person, “Hey bozo, you’re a spirit too so quit acting like an ass.” You just send the spirit love, you imagine them, visualize, empower the spirit aspect of them with your love. Then let it go.
All beings are spirit and physical. Many people weren’t raised in a loving environment and spiritual development wasn’t part of life. They may have, like most of us, patterned themselves after their parents and their parents might have been really poor role models for developing an enlightened perspective. Those folks who raise our hackles just haven’t had their lights turned on yet. Help them and yourself by sending their spirits love to help lift them to see more.
3. Energy is reality.
Many of us, maybe most of us, were schooled in the idea that what is real can be seen. There, of course, is a physical world you can see but there is also an unseen world. As our world awakens, the line or veil between those two worlds is getting thinner and thinner.
Down to the smallest particle we are aware of, life is energy. All bits of our world, those that move, grow or even speak are filled with energy. Even those things that remain still and appear lifeless to you are buzzing with life force energy. Stones on the beach, trees reaching to the sky, birds, bees, bears… all alive, all filled with life force energy.
Our western society has honored money and possessions as goals to strive for. But in truth, to me, the goal in life is energy. To sense it, embrace it, learn to gather it and share it as you can. Being aware of your own life force energy and how to balance and preserve it. Energy is how we’ll change the world… loving, compassionate energy.
So to take it just one step further, this life force energy is consciousness. So you, human, who has thought of yourself as the top of the food chain and all that, is one conscious being but so is the dog, the bee, the tree, the stone. All different than us, many have survived much longer than us and all have wisdom to share. We have opposable thumbs but from a consciousness/wisdom perspective, we can learn so much from this amazing community of beings that we share the planet with.
The Q’ero ceremonies immersed me in the world of nature beings- a loving earth mother, a father sun, beings of the water, the wind, the moon, the stars, the cosmos. It is so important for us to grow spiritually by remembering that these amazing nature energy powers are here to help and teach us.
4. What goes round comes round
The Q’ero people have a much more eloquent way to express this balance in life. They call it Ayni (eye’-knee) and it means sacred exchange. To the Q’ero, one must always give when it’s needed. Your neighbor needs help with his leaky roof, you help. You know thru the law of sacred exchange or sacred reciprocity that somewhere down the road when you need help, someone will be there to help you.
This is a sacred part of life for the Q’ero and if more of us took the time to embrace the idea, we might find our lives changed. In the west, we build fences, stash away our reserves, put locks on our doors and try desperately to protect that which is ours. The ancient Inca rulers also stashed away reserves of food. I saw a site in Ollantaytambo where the Incas stored enough food for 50 years. Who was the food for? For the rulers? For the rich? No the food was for who needed it. Sacred reciprocity… produce, help, do what you can for your community, for your world, knowing that your needs will also always be me.
Note that keeping score isn’t part of sacred exchange. It’s just your job as an adult, a part of the world community to offer your service, your resources to help our world.
Where are you on the maturity curve? Children and adolescents focus a lot on me, my, mine. As we graduate into being a true adult, we begin to see that we are part of a global family, a community and our role is to serve it as we may. Shine your light and you’ll be amazed how many shadows disappear.
5. It’s all good
I lifted this title from Elizabeth B. Jenkins book, “The Fourth Level”* because it explains this next concept so well. The Q’ero believe in Yanantin, an acceptance and celebration of differences- “. Yep, noodle on that a bit. I will elaborate.
My time with the Q’ero was all about moving energy, however, right up front we are made clear that there is no bad energy. There is heavy energy and light or fine energy. All energy is useful.
Humans exhale CO2 as a waste product so is CO2 bad? Well, not if you’re a tree and breathe that CO2 in. The trees exhale O2… so from the tree’s perspective, is O2 bad? No, because trees are way smarter than us and are grateful to be essential participants in the circle of life.
Elizabeth tells a story of a Q’ero healing couple being interviewed for a documentary. the interviewer asked them how they manage to work together when one is feeling irritated with the other. I’ll quote from the book, “They looked at him uncomprehendingly and responded, ‘Why would we do that when we have such a beautiful life together?'”
Western society seems to wish to use differences to divide. In the Andean tradition there are no opposites, just compliments. You can experiment with this idea a bit by noticing how many times in a day (or in an hour) you think of some thing or someone as “bad.” “It’s a bad day, He’s a bad seed, That was a bad idea.” If there were no word as bad, how could you reword these thoughts? “This isn’t how I imagined this day going but hey, look at the good that happened.” “That poor soul seems to be struggling. I wonder how I can help… or maybe I can just send him love. ” “Well, that was an interesting idea… maybe I’ll try a different approach next time.”
This isn’t about turning into “Mary Sunshine” and seeing everything as happy, happy. But slapping a “bad” label on something blocks our ability to see value or maybe our specific lesson from it. Relax and look for the good in all things, in ALL things. It feels so much better.
6. I do not know what another person should do
Yes, I do get the irony in my list of basic skills we all need, that the last one is acknowledging that I don’t know what you need. None of us know what another person needs to do in this life.
I can guess based on my skills and my experiences what might be a good choice for you. I can imagine that if you chose this or that next step, it could bring you joy. But when you get down to it, each of us is so very different. We came into this world with a unique set of skills/powers to achieve our purposes in this life. I can’t tell you what you should do with your life, because I don’t see the world from your eyes. I don’t have your experiences. I don’t feel your dreams and your strengths . Only you know those things… so only you can make the best decisions for you.
If you insist you know what’s best for another, and they listen to you, it is quite possible that their true skills, dreams and life’s purpose will never be fulfilled. Each of us has to sit in the driver’s seat after careful meditation and years of getting to know and love ourselves. Ask opinions of others, of course. But hold to the truth that you know you, your higher wisdom knows why you’re here and how you want this life to play out.
Thinking we know what is best for another reeks of the idea that there is one right way to do life. Regardless of your experience, or good intentions, my friends, there are millions of ways to do life. I suggest we all seek to follow our own paths with great love and compassion, with great hopes and visions for the future. Each of us has a part of play in helping the earth birth this new version of herself. Help her by honoring your true self. If I can help you in that effort, I’m glad to support you as I can.
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I’m a good hour into this basic skills idea and I’m realizing there could be a whole book of these concepts. But for now, I’ll leave you with a basic 6. If you have your own ideas for these basic skills needed to shine in life and help others shine too, leave them in the comments and I’ll add them to future missives.
Sending light and love to us all
❤️
* “The Fourth Level- Nature Wisdom Teachings of the Inka,” by Elizabeth B Jenkins is available thru the author’s site ElizabethBJenkins.com or from your favorite bookseller.