If This Archetype Chooses You â Armor up. Itâs coming. Are you feeling muzzled? Do you dream of battles? Do you wake up angry? Worried? Afraid? Do you gnash your teeth while you sleep? Do you love proving others wrong? When others speak are you eager to jump in and âset them rightâ? Is your favorite word, âNo?â
Resistance is Never Futile â We become creatives for a reason. But what kind of creatives are we? After all, we canât make our contribution unless we know who we are. Strangely, we get a lot of push-back on this seemingly basic investigation. First, thereâs enormous cultural pressure against us defining ourselves while international corporate overlords compete, waging schemes to entrap us into fighting for them. Itâs enough to gnash anyoneâs teeth.
Creative Challenge â We must be protective of our special gifts. Specify under what circumstances you are relaxed, happy, creative and âIn-Flow.â The âflowâ state is âblissâ â your brain oozes alpha waves as you sink into some interesting exploration, losing any sense of time and feeling at one with the universe. Suddenly, we are experiencing the pleasures of âEternityâ while still very much a part of this sphere. Is âflowâ achieved for you through music? Dance? Composition? Reading? Sex? Some lucky people access this state through meditation alone. It is certainly worth a try; meditation is very good for your brain.
Creative Danger â The danger of Eternal Resistance is that it becomes reflexive. Our Resistance must be chosen, carefully thought out and promoted by History and Fact.
Creative Opportunity â You are a work of art. Your whole life, your experiences, your very dreams, have brought you to this moment. Your resistance to invasion, to malformation, to co-option, to corruption, has blossomed into an individualized focus that must defeat their blander, blunter, self-serving opposition. You lose nothing â gain everything â by becoming yourself; a unique creative nonpareil who has never existed before and will never exist again. You are the opposite of a faceless soldier, you are rare, sui generis, customized for this moment of space and time but perfected for eternity. What fears are left to surmount? What can you dream?
Models & Mentors â âWhen injustice becomes law, resistance becomes dutyâ â Thomas Jefferson
âEvery moment of resistance to temptation is a victoryâ â Frederick William Faber
âTo fly we must have resistanceâ â Maya Lin
âThe history of liberty is a history of resistanceâ â Woodrow Wilson
âThe more important an activity is to your soulâs evolution the more resistance you will feelâ â Steven Pressfield
#Haiku: Counter-Pressure
First – Relax; Melt; Slide; Upend Onslaught; Be attackerâs Banana peel
If This Archetype Chooses You â You have a legal issue. Is there some illegality in your secret life? Are you stepping over lines in public or private? Remember, lawbreakers break themselves.
Do You Dream of Judges? Lawyers? Court? Are you obsessed with TV programs about justice? When justice is delayed or denied, do you obsess about that? Are you feeling unjustly punished? Do you envy or rage against those who have âgotten away with somethingâ?
Creativeâs Desire for Justice is Hardwired â Do you envy or rage against those who have âgotten away with somethingâ? âBlessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.â In my view, the mere concept of Complete Justice is heaven enough. We are repeatedly warned that it wonât ever match our earthly ideologies, that we are children scrapping in a sandbox who havenât noticed, much less comprehended, the real issues.
What Is Our Armor? â What laws resonate with you? Do you believe in karma? How would you define it? What laws make you angry? Which laws would you modify? What is your attitude towards the police â protectors of order or agents of mayhem? Dick Nixon was famous for talking endlessly about ârestoring law and orderâ until just before he was forced to resign because of his multiple crimes. Many Trump followers insist everything Trump has done is âjustified because Democrats are worse.â Is this a race to the bottom? Whereâs the off-ramp?
Creative Danger â âJudge not lest ye be judgedâ is a scary proposition. How would we come off if our standards were used against us? Come to think of it, what are our standards? Are they fluid? Flexible? Jesus also said the âletterâ i.e. âwritten ruleâ KILLS. That itâs the âspirit that gives life.â
Law Is Our Armor â Creatives dream of a âspirit-filledâ Law. Maybe you wanted to go to Law School but life intervened. Itâs never too late to study any subject thatâs close to our heart. We become creatives because we wish for heroes; I think thatâs the sole reason for the wild popularity of the Marvel movie series.
Do You Admire Heroes Because They Break the Rules, or because they uphold them? We acknowledge the need for rules, but how can we make sure theyâre âspirit-filledâ? In what areas of your life are you too rigid? In which are you too flexible? Imagine yourself speaking in court, making a case for yourself. What arguments would you give? Ask your dreams to start imagining a Justice World. How would it look?
Models & Mentors â âLaw is not law if it violates the principles of eternal justiceâ â Lydia Maria Child
âThe only stable state is one where all are equal before the lawâ â Aristotle
âLaw is the public conscienceâ â Thomas Hobbes
âAble in argument, accurate in analysis, strict in study, candid with clients and honest with adversaries, today I shall not, to win a point, lose my soulâ â St. Thomas More
âIf we desire respect for the law, we must make law respectableâ â Louis D. Brandeis
#Haiku: Karma
Come round – Go round. Love reaps love Law reaps Justice Violence reaps Whirlwind.
If This Archetype Chooses You âBecause you require an experienced hostage negotiator to help free you it is time to make peace with your elders. Have you been dreaming of old people? Funerals? Aging in general? Dreaming of gurus atop mountains? Buddhas, caves, palaces of wisdom? Or are you fixating on a specific elder who had an influence â bad or good â on your young life?
Creativesâ Effort Is Sacred â Failure is when you donât try. Experience is the great teacher. Bad Judgment leads to Experience which leads to Wisdom which leads to Good Judgment.
You Are Wiser Than You Know ââ Contrast elders you admire with those you avoid. Arenât the latter complainers who stress to everyone they meet what a bad hand life has dealt them? They complain about their health, politics, the weather, other people â whatever crosses the windscreen of their increasingly tightening minds. In their world children never call, doctors donât help, media is lying, weatherâs getting worse, food is adulterated and we are all going to hell. This person is clamoring ever more loudly for ego strokes without apparently noticing the discomfort and distaste of those around them. Rather than trying a new strategy, they step up their whingeing.
Read the Room! Is what you want to scream at them but you realize they can no longer âlearn.â This is the opposite of wisdom. This is senility. A brain is shutting down, a personality is beggared and no one wants to be around it.
Think of an Elder you Admire. Nelson Mandela, Joe Biden, St. Joan, Desmond Tutu, The Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, Oprah Winfrey, Pema Chodron, the Pope? These persons are Ego-Less. Someone who talks about others, not themselves. They authentically care for others. They discuss ideas rather than gossip and have a long memory of problems, solutions, trial and error. They keep themselves âyoungâ in all the ways that matter. People flock to them.
Thereâs an Old Cherokee Story about how each of us is born with a good wolf and a bad wolf inside of us. The one that gets stronger and takes control is the one you feed. Your challenge is to figure out how to practice your increasing wisdom every day. Accepting your dreams and encouraging their deepening understanding is the beginning of wisdom.
The Pursuit of Gurus is Inherently Dangerous because there are a lot of con artists out there seeking hostages and slaves. Avoid dominance/submission games and people who use any of the following interpersonal techniques:
Theyâre never âwrong.â Nothing is ever their fault. Only they know what is fashionable, appropriate and right. You are always wrong.
Circular conversations, ad hominem arguments, projection and gaslighting – They are the gate-keepers of reason and you the thirsty aspirant who will never succeed without their help.
People only capable of hierarchical – vertical, not horizontal relationships. Someone needs to be âon top.â It will never be âyour turn.â You will always be dragooned into doing their bidding.
Blanket statements and generalizations â Thick layers of protective blather will keep you from getting through to discuss any task at hand.
Misrepresenting your thoughts and feelings to the point of absurdity â You are a poorly educated simplistic thinker and a deficient reasoner and they are in on all the secrets and are the source of all wisdom. Thereâs no âcooperatingâ with these people.
Nitpicking and moving the goal posts â Different rules for everyone and every day.
Changing the subject to evade accountability â âThis is your fault – You shouldnât have given me that job to begin with.â
Covert and overt threats ââIf people know what you REALLY are, say, do, no one would be your friend.â
Name-calling , stigmatizing, limitingâ âIdentity politics.â âYou are a _â Fill in the blank. And thatâs all youâll ever be in this guyâs eyes.
Destructive conditioning – Abuse, frustration and disrespect are this personâs calling archetypes but itâs never their fault that they live in a cloud of toxicity. They want you in there, too. Decline.
Smear campaigns and stalking â Endless power struggles. âOffice politics.â Need I say more?
Playing the Martyr â âEveryoneâs lying about me. I have so many enemies!â
Demands Immediate Unthinking Fealty – When someone stresses the fact that they are a ânice guyâ or girl, that you should âtrust themâ right away or emphasizes their credibility without any provocation from you whatsoever, WALK AWAY.
Baits and badgers you â testing your limits. Can you be made to lose control?
Boundary testing â âYou owe meâ – âYouâre committedâ – âEveryone does itâ to drag you into unethical enterprise
Aggressive jabs disguised as jokes â âCanât you laugh about yourself? Everyone else is laughing.â
Condescending sarcasm and patronizing tone â Know-It-Alls
No One Using the Above Techniques has your best interests at heart.
Our Scars Define Beauty – You can see this is all about Control. Avoid those who seek to control or dominate you. Revered Elders such as those mentioned above would not do that. Treat others with respect and expect respect yourself.
Creatives Know Their Allies â Creatives donât fear becoming experienced. We seek it. People come and go, but the right ones stay. Time shows you the difference between the strength and honor of anotherâs heart. Creatives share their knowledge.
Creatives Can Read the Signs â If you donât believe in yourself, no one else will. Train yourself to trust yourself. You can read and write maps, you can interpret Nature, you see Red Flags before they wave for others.
Creatives Earn Peace â Random acts of kindness make everyone feel better. Creativesâ âcan doâ attitude spreads peace. Creatives welcome other peaceful spirits. We challenge the troubled to take their drama elsewhere.
Models & Mentors â âYou canât control the wind but you can learn to adjust your sails.â â Jimmy Dean
âIt always seems impossible till itâs done.â â Nelson Mandela
âKnowledge speaks but wisdom listensâ â Jimi Hendrix
âI am thankful to those who said No. Because of them, I did it myself.â â Albert Einstein
âExperience is not what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you.â â Aldous Huxley
âIt is never too late to be who you might have beenâ â George Eliot
âWisdom is the journey no one can take for usâ â Marcel Proust
#Haiku: Noble Heart
Sit In peace Regift The rubble of your life: Wreckage Belongs to All.
If This Archetype Chooses You â Decisions are being made. About you. What will they be? What are your fears? Are you dreaming of courts? Prison? Are you haunted by religious fears of hell and condemnation? Are you confused about innocence in general and your virtues in particular? Some people say we canât break Godâs laws, we can only break ourselves against them. Thatâs certainly true of the laws of Science!
Who Judges the Creative? We know other people are looking. We know we are always being assessed, ranked, possibly dismissed. We defensively assess, dismiss and gossip about each other. All of us wish to be judged by our intent, by the content of our hearts, rather than by results, which owe so much to Fate.
Creatives Cultivate Discernment â We are familiar with what it feels like to dislike some experience until a friend teaches us âhowâ to like it. We treasure the interesting adventure of seeing the world through anotherâs eyes, feeling with their hands, tasting with their tongue and remembering through their memory. An out of body experience for sure, as well as a bonding exercise. Seeing ourselves through anotherâs eyes can also be very uncomfortable. How about historyâs eyes? What will be said about us? How will we be remembered?
Creative Challenge â Youth produces Bad Experiences and Bad Experiences develop Sophisticated â i.e. âGoodâ Judgment. Seriously, you need to be able to see some of these Bad Experiences coming because in our competitive capitalistic society these can become âextinctionâ events. How many decades of your life do you have to devote to unethical corporations, scammy multi-level marketing schemes, bad marriages, unreliable friends and âsecretâ investments? Our time, youth, energy and assets are limited. Respect your limits.
Creative Danger â Fear and Regret are potent forces. Sometimes it is possible to be too cautious. But can you just âdip a toe?â The principle of âdollar cost averagingâ suggests that you must keep âpaying yourself backâ for investments that seem to be accumulating big-time, so if they suddenly plunge, you will never have actually lost money. In other words, study your progress as you go. This requires that we not get swept up in the experience with a mind affected by inebriating substances. Ask yourself honestly, is that possible for me?
Creative Opportunity â Nowâs the time for you to develop yourself outside âthe group.â How often do you do things because âthe groupâ is doing them? How smart is your group? Who controls it? How close to the cliff ARE you? Think about the nature of leadership. Of models. Once you start evincing discernment you will be challenged but respected. Sometimes you lose your taste for the group, or you find a new group that suits you better. Creatives evolve. Fearlessly.
Models & Mentors â âGood judgment comes from bad experienceâ â Will Rogers
âAt the end of the day, you need someone who listens to you without judgmentâ â Payal Rohatgi
âA rush to judgment makes a fair trial hard to getâ â John Grisham
âWhen you judge another you define yourselfâ â Wayne Dyer
âIt is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but hard to dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilitiesâ â Josiah Stamp
#Haiku: Dear Jane Austen
Formalized play Mines natureâs Riot; Edit Emote: Judge Love- Rewrite
If This Archetype Chooses You â You need a re-set. Your operating instructions are faulty. But where did they go wrong? That is what we must figure out. Do you find yourself frequently fantasizing about some magic dissolution of âthe rulesâ? The problem with mirages â especially those we long to believe in â is that they become illusions. Falsehoods. We need so desperately to cling to an obvious fantasy we willingly surrender our ability to discern fact from fiction.
Illusions are Powerful â The seventeenth century Dutch needed a desirable luxury exchange item the privileged could trade back and forth for status reasons. Yes, that was the tulip bulb. It was a bubble â of courseâ the bottom fell out â of course – and left a whole lot of previously comfortable people bankrupt. We donât have anything like that, these days, do we? Or do we? People are rushing to invest in crypto because of its complete lack of regulation. But without rules, itâs laughably easy to steal peopleâs money.
Weâre All Rubes Here â Some people are investing in admittedly worthless âtokensâ â just in case they go up in value. Does anyone remember the Beanie Baby craze? I had a friend who stored Mrs. Butterworth bottles in her basement â she had a basement FULL of Mrs. Butterworth bottles â because they were just BOUND to be worth something â someday. Have you seen what happens when everyone runs to the same side of the ferryboat? It tips them into the water! Successful investing involves being where the crowd isnât â before they get there. Luck â chance – and the deliberate manipulation of the credulous â is often involved.
Some Illusions Are Life Strengthening â Others are Life-Depleting. I canât stress this strongly enough: Creatives Need to Avoid Fantasy Thinking. Of all people, Creatives must traffic in reality. We create worthwhile magic, the kind that protects and enhances â so we canât be deceived by the âmagicâ that punishes and stigmatizes. Your map must represent actual ground, not pie in the sky, or you wonât be able to maneuver across it. We understand the attraction of The Mirage. The problem with mirages â especially those we long to believe in â is that they evolve into illusions which create delusions.
Illusions Become Delusions â The Buddhists say life itself is an illusion. But they mean that metaphorically, to keep you from become âattachedâ to the âephemeral.â The physics, gravity, chemistry and hydraulics of everyday life are hardly illusive. Above all, we should avoid clinging to fake food and pushing away nutrition. When creatives end up battling FOR falsity â itâs the worst of all possible situations.
Creative Challenge â Letâs face facts. Learn to enjoy reality as a bracing polar dip. Are you trapped by an illusion that you used to need but now is killing you? You can identify this by your increasing suffering over an increasingly problematic life and your diminishing pleasure over things that used to be reliable joys. Is it a relationship? An activity? A belief? Look at the problem honestly. Find others going through the same experience and generate frank discussion.
Flying Monkeys Abound – If any group member rushes in defensively to shame and discourage you, to convince you youâre not feeling or understanding what you KNOW you ARE feeling and understanding then realize youâre being gaslighted. What youâre trying to exit is a âcultâ that is NOT devoted to the health of its members but to their diminishment and co-option. Stop communicating with those flying monkeys and find somebody who supports the truth of your actual experience AND your desire to feel better.
Creative Danger â The path to re-making yourself is fraught with danger and you will require all sorts of help. Donât be discouraged if your feelings are volatile and transitory and you are confused about their reality. Move slowly, consulting Models & Mentors – kind others who respect your autonomy, individuality and with whom you feel safe.
Creative Opportunity â Relax! Creatives will become adept at shifting vision from night vision to day vision, forward and backwards through time, manifesting othersâ auras until we can all see possibility and love.
We Transform Illusion Through Skill â The impossible takes longer, because language is not as flexible as reality. You are embarked on an exciting growth challenge where you leave a constricting carapace behind. Sometimes the âshellâ was protective and served for a time to keep you safe while you matured. You donât need to disparage the old you, or the old relationship; it served its purpose. Often people who have been through a trauma say afterwards they wouldnât change the past, because they treasure and embrace the person theyâve become.
Models & Mentors â âArgue for your limitations, and sure enough, theyâre yoursâ â Richard Bach
âThe world is an illusion we must take seriously.â â Aldous Huxley
âThe light at the end of the tunnel is not an illusion â the tunnelâs the illusionâ â Alysse Aallyn
âSeparation from each other is an optical illusion of realityâ â Albert Einstein
âLimit, like fear, is often an illusionâ â Michael Jordan
#Haiku: Coach Donât Play
When you learn the game Rise above the game; Insight Renders you Magic
If This Archetype Chooses You â Maybe itâs time you upgrade your concept of success. Do you dream of adulation? Applause? The Poppy, source of lifesaving modern analgesics, represents eternal sleep and endless dreaming. Perhaps it reminds us that the journey, not the arrival matters, because the successful life is one long journey. The tired and footsore creative needs heartwarming visions to sustain joy for the voyage.
Success Is a Worse Hazard for Creatives Than Failure â If the journey, not the arrival matters, battle-hardened creatives collapse on reaching Roadâs End. The Poppy also represents loss of self and a derailment of energy. Future plans are torpedoed in pursuit of a momentary fix. Greeks and Romans used these orange and red flowers as offerings to the dead â Westerners emblazon them on tombstones. Could it be that the very idea of âsuccessâ is something of a mirage?
Success Is How You Define It â Abraham Lincoln famously said people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. If we define âsuccessâ as adulation and approval by others, havenât we given away the ultimate power over our lives? Many people define success in material ways â itâs the only way to explain the salaries CEOâs pay themselves, while they freely admit nobody âneedsâ that much money. They donât seem to be using it very responsibly either, so I would judge them as âunsuccessful.â If the most important standards are your own personal ones then the only person to please is yourself and those you love. Letâs rephrase the challenge: are you content?
Creative Challenge â When success is âarrivalâ, a âfinish lineâ is implied. Do you really want to be finished? As we desire constant progress, then reaching the goal is death. But the opposite â endless striving â is just a treadmill. A ârat raceâ, in point of fact. So, the ultimate success must be âcontentmentâ. To be content we must assess our lives and come to terms with our missteps. Sometimes we discovered something even more wonderful that we didnât even know we were searching for.
Creative Danger â Success is a drug: be careful. Donât get addicted. Our society views everything as a competition, and the fundamental danger is you comparing your INSIDES (i.e., how you feel) with everyone elseâs âoutsidesâ (i.e., how they LOOK.) You can see thatâs nonsensical. We donât visualize each otherâs sadness and pain, only display and showmanship.
Creative Opportunity â is to feel compassion for anotherâs hurt and struggle. Feel compassion (and forgiveness) for your own hurt and struggle. Assess your place on lifeâs path. Maybe youâre still on the edge of some great discovery, if so, keep going! Maybe itâs time to take stock of how far youâve come and have a look at the big map. I like resting, thinking, reading and writing. Retired, I do exactly what I want to most days, surrounded by love. Feels like success to me.
Models & Mentors â âwithout continual growth & progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success have no meaningâ â Benjamin Franklin
âStart where you are. Use what you have. Do what you canâ â Arthur Ashe
âThere is always light â if weâre brave enough to see it, weâre brave enough to be it â â Amanda Gorman
âRules for success: 1. Believe in your ideas 2. Pick good people 3. Earn Respect 4. Always be a student 5. Enjoy what you do 6. Ask for advice 7. Learn to say No 8. Create the best products 9. Donât take things personally 10. Create the futureâ â Bill Gates
#Haiku: The Future Is Now
Quotidian Maps built From shreds of Daily goals – Invisible glue
If This Archetype Chooses You â Time to think about what you will leave behind when youâre gone. Dreaming of pregnancy? Parenthood? Do you fantasize nostalgically about your own childhood? Do you dream of establishing a foundation, benefiting the community? Do you dream of death, funerals, will-making? Your subconscious is considering the legacy you will leave behind â how to live on forever when youâre no longer physically here.
You Are the Future â Contributing to forming and shaping young lives is a key way we âreplicateâ. Hearing your own ideas advanced and improved upon is a unique thrill. Generativity is the necessary completion of the formation of Self. Super-Therapist Erik Erickson posits âGenerativity versus Stagnationâ as the stark choice facing us as we grow older.
Creative Challenge â Weâre usually full of criticisms of our own upbringing â behaviors we do NOT want to replicate. What would you change? What difference do you want to leave in the world? In our capitalist world we always think a legacy is âmoneyâ but money is a thorny gift. Think how easily it is lost, misused, wasted, stolen. A better legacy is wisdom: a codebook, âcheat sheetâ, a treasure map, the ability to recognize and ENJOY treasure once it is located.
Creative Danger â We all know about the monomaniacs who want to rebuild the universe in their image. Their view of possibility is restricted to what THEY want, what THEY can do. Time to consider whether our Legacy is just an ego trip. Did we consult anybody else? Will this contribute to a universe others want, need and can enjoy?
Creative Opportunity â Once again we are offered a magical chance to increase our range, magnify our grasp and celebrate and share our unique joys and gifts. Leaving Grannyâs plates or a recipe book to a relative in a will is so unrewarding compared to giving a party. Is there any way we can turn the struggles of ordinary existence into a joy for anyone else? Find out what others need. Think about your own luck and good fortune. Usually we can see a way the path can be smoothed for others. Then we can spend our golden years getting feedback (and usually thanks!) and fine-tuning. What a pleasure!
Creatives Preserve Value â Creatives exist to increase safety where all living things can grow and flourish.
Creatives Create Worth â In an atmosphere of respect, value is created. When humans are free to explore, imagination is unleashed. In a time of peace, playfulness and joy are prime.
Creatives Understand Tradition â Creatives are hard-tested. They love to pass on what is valuable. Sharing skills and preventing common errors is the pride of their acquired wisdom. Our heirs are everyone on the planet.
Creatives Enhance Sharing â understanding maps, history, techniques and strategies gives creatives a special interest in the experiences of others. You are never too old to learn.
Creatives Deepen Relationships â It is beneficial for the young to see their eldersâ humility as well as knowledge, kindness as well as determination and playfulness as well as persistence.
Models & Mentors â âEvery child is born a geniusâ â Buckminster Fuller
âHistory will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of childrenâ â Nelson Mandela
âChildren make your life importantâ â Erma Bombeck
âAll kids need is a little help, a little hope and someone who believes in themâ â Magic Johnson
#Haiku: Hope Chest
Halted at the steep cliff of â¨Parental reason; Children Forge Launchpad.
If This Archetype Chooses You â You are getting closer. You are on the cusp of a major discovery that will explain much. Are you dreaming of books, reading, classes, school? Do you often feel you are on a pursuit and the prey is within view?
Creatives Seek the Light – We are all born in a condition of yearning. As children, we try desperately to understand the world we find ourselves in. The truth is we are all creatives on a quest for enlightenment. We know there is a message out there for us, we know we have the capacity to understand it, but we are waiting for the lightning strike of âenlightenmentâ to put it all together and offer our unique, informed perspective.
The Truth Is Simple â Jesus said we have to become children again to enter the kingdom of heaven. This certainly implies that âenlightenmentâ is more a state of mind than any received wisdom. The dandelion, that simple fresh flower that is the harbinger of spring, is Creative Oracleâs symbol of the mystical understanding and lightning universal comprehension we call âenlightenment.â It naturally spreads itself everywhere, even on the rockiest, inhospitable terrain.
Creative Challenge â Enlightenment literature recommend two things: a good teacher and time alone. Every night when we go to sleep we enter the alone-time of our own mind. We can prep ourselves in advance with some âgood teachingâ; Socrates, Plato, Montaigne, Eckhart Tolle, Pema Chodron, Deepak Chopra, Stephen Batchelor, the Dalai Lama â savor these models until you get a sense which one speaks especially to you. Then set aside twenty-minutes or a half an hour for reading (or listening) right before sleep.
Creative Danger â Zen teachers say that if anyone represents themselves as a Zen teacher they are cannot be. Gnostic gospels say prophets asking for money are false prophets. Search for a guru is fraught with landmines. This is why I mention specific names of teachers available at any library who will not be trying to gain any ascendance or dominance over you personally.
Be Wary of Giving Your Spirit into Anotherâs Care. If they have demanded submission they will be cruel. The sin against the Holy Ghost is the only sin that cannot be forgiven, and it is the sin of running roughshod over our spiritual receptors. Once trust and faith are destroyed, it is difficult to âbecome a child againâ because of the terrible things we have known and seen.
Creative Opportunity â Broken places let in the light and healing is always available. Even when scarred by false prophets we feel there is a magic of universal love and resilience available to us. A variety of healing ceremonials â my favorite is the âmiracle bathâ and the âlaying on of handsâ – will reconnect you to the possibilities of joy, love and the insight leading to enlightenment.
Models & Mentors -. âKnowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.â â Lao Tzu
âEnlightenment is your felt state of Oneness with Beingâ â Eckhart Tolle
âThe road to enlightenment is long and difficult and you should not forget snacks and magazinesâ â Anne LaMott
âSuffering is temporary, enlightenment is foreverâ â Buddha
âEnlightenment does not come from the mind, it comes from just being. You are already enlightened. You have to realize it to allow it into your experienceâ- Anita Moorjani
If This Archetype Chooses You – You awake trembling. Are you helpless in your dreams? Do you dream of children, of your own childhood? In Creative Oracle, the rose represents the soft evanescence of youth when the merest thumbprint of emphasis can leave eternal impressions. As the emblem of beauty, the Rose warns us that this quivering, temporary vulnerability may be the very definition of eternal loveliness.
Creatives Remain Vulnerable â We are human, and we have no desire to divest ourselves of our humanity. As creatives we defend youth, beauty, humanity, evanescence.
We Remember Where We Came From â You well recollect how you were molded. Is it a pleasant nostalgic vision or a horror story? Do you resent all the other actors in this drama? Remember, resentment is a poison we consume â we are the only ones it harms. Value Your Training â good and bad â as you value your humanity.
Roses Have Thorns â Celebrate Yours â Everyone sees the thorn-stripped rose the florist sells, forgetting that roses were born with protections, just like the rest of us. Contemplate yours.
Creatives Have Many Protections â Our Training, Our Mental Agility, Our Commitments â but most especially our worldview. Others may surrender and fade away, but we know we are designed for eternal beauty, like the idea of stars. It is the essence of life to struggle, to mentally picture the goal and to design and redesign a gorgeous, life-changing map for all who follow.
Creative Challenge â Can we turn the building blocks of our own past into a constructive, hopeful framework for the future? Can you mentally accept and explore the power of a hardening maturity?
Creatives Preserve & Build â We do not destroy. The philosophy of âannihilationâ is a psychic snare. Terrible things happen to ordinary people and they are changed forever. We may wish those things hadnât happened but regret prevents us from focusing on reality. We need to understand the world weâre in and map it for those who follow after. History and literature explore the coping mechanisms around disaster and the strong people it produces.
Creative Opportunity â Resilience is the art we cultivate. We soon realize resilience has its own beauty; this rose may be cut down but the plant is hardly dead, in fact it generously offers an outpouring of constant roses. That is true beauty.
Models & Mentors – âVulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativityâ
Brene Brown
âBeing vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasureâ â Bob Marley
âSometimes you have to drop your guard so your heart can breatheâ â Emma Xu
âThe strongest love is the love that can demonstrate its fragilityâ â Paulo Coelho
#Haiku: On the Vulnerability of Poets
Dis – Composing To re-see; Melting to Re-form; Masking to un – Mask.
If This Archetype Chooses You â Itâs time to pay attention to your physical well-being. This doesnât necessitate a doctor visit, it could mean you know perfectly well youâre doing something to threaten your health and itâs time to quit.
But Sometimes a Doctor Visit is Necessary – Do you dream of hospitals? Doctors? Shamen? Magic pills? One of societyâs proudest boasts is our seemingly mysterious ability to cure illness, or at least palliate its effects. Your dreams say you yearn for healing, and something in you recognizes you need help.
Do You Trust Your Doctor? Maybe itâs spiritual healing thatâs required. Try a naturopath, acupuncture, massage therapy – you are searching for that instinctively helpful healer. Revisit all our advice on managing gurus (See WISDOM) â they must not be greedy and must demonstrate they have your best interests at heart. You should not become their sex toy or support them in an extravagant lifestyle. Seek references from friends. Anyone attempting to isolate you and wall you off from information is not your friend.
The Creative Path Is Exhausting. We need constant support. No shame â itâs part of the calling.
What Makes a Creativeâs Heart Race? â Anyone developing their own map is going to get lost frequently. Itâs a wilderness out there. How can we find the right path? How can we develop the confidence to choose the âright diagnosisâ for what ails us? When should we request a âsecondâ or âthirdâ opinion? How can we stay on the ârightâ course, or even assess the ârightnessâ of any course, considering all our past mistakes?
Creatives Need âHeart Strengthening.â âFoxgloveâ the source of digitalis, (a powerful heart medication) tells us: Listen to your heart. Get out your Training Journal and start making notes. What questions do we wish to ask? Who do we want to be? Where are we trying to go?
Creative Danger â Can we tell the difference between a âfortifyingâ or a âharmingâ path? TV pharmaceutical ads list grisly side effects for pills tackling the vaguest malaise. Who can overlook these threats? Perhaps the ultimate âdangerâ lies in ignoring the warnings our âdis-easeâ gives. What does âI want to be young againâ really mean? We are all mortal. We have just so much time left to plan. To âbecomeâ.
Creative Opportunity – Some people are more confident following an âexperts recommendâ course, others adapt and customize as they go. Joy is the moment when planets and moments all click into alignment and we feel we accepted as a beloved child of the universe. Letâs unclog our ears, remove the plank from our vision and simplify our world to recapture the moments of joy experienced in childhood. If a loving, guiding force rescued us over and over again, we can summon the confidence to find several human healers to guide us through the healthcare system.
Models & Mentors – âHugging is good medicineâ â Karen Salmansohn
âMedicine is the art of amusing the patient while nature cures the diseaseâ â Voltaire
âMedicines cure diseases, but only doctors can cure patientsâ â C.J. Jung
âMedicine cures doubt as well as diseaseâ â Karl Marx
âThe arts are as essential to everyoneâs lives as clean food and fresh airâ â Renee Phillips
#Haiku: Overcoming Narcissistic Disappointment
Cuts hurt Scars heal Skin becomes Distinctive; you Become interesting.
Alysse Aallyn 