ShaktiMama

It's something to be considered that Santiago and I have come from two different journeys and have converged at a crossroads and decided to travel forward as co teachers because of spiritual kinship and agreements that we discovered we shared. I can't speak on his journey of awakening but I can speak of mine. I can only say his was traditional path compared to my non traditional path. My background is an evangelical, fundamentalist Christian. That is my family tradition. I turned away, horrified at its dark side and what it had done to my spirit, and spent about 10 years deprogramming myself. But there were places I just couldn't reach, to excorcise, to transmute to something else. I was taken unawares by a kundalini awakening initiated from an unconventional, western mystic's shaktipat. I had no idea what it was and he wasn't a really good teacher of a shaktipat tradition. He could only speak of it in superficial, generalized way. He wasn't a very good shepherd and I was pretty much left to fend for myself. So I discovered many things about this energy, this awakening, on my own. I walked the solitary path for years only interacting with other kundalites that I found online. No real bodied kundalites that I could find near me. What I learned quickly was this alien energy that was taking control of my whole being and making it do stuff was intelligent. It was also what I can only call Divine. I also knew submission to this Divine Energy was paramount to my survival and subsequent and ongoing transformation. Through a period of trial and error I learned to listen and not resist. Resisting meant I got bitchslapped...that means I got sick, experienced pain that was physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional. Compliance and submission meant unimaginable bliss and the presence of a joy so exquisite it bordered on painful. Positive reinforcement is a great motivator. I learned much on an empirical level about this energy and how to live in concert and moving in harmony with it's direction. Later, years later, I began to discover that there are many traditions that say...do this, breathe this way, meditate like this, meditate like that, consider this, consider that, eat this way, move that way...on and on and on...to bring people to a place that I already was and was living. Every tradition had a book of policies and procedures and memos from the upper management on how to do this. I didn't have that so I took my directions directly from Shiva Shakti. Does that mean I listened perfectly? No, but when I didn't there were consequences that were very clear and so learned to make different choices. So I look back and I see the traditions and paths converging to a point where I am already standing. What I know is what some people think is the end of the journey is just the beginning. I am not better than anyone because of it but there are some advantages standing here. It's like looking at a piece of embroidered fabric. Look on the side opposite of the design and its all a jumble of strange stitches, knots, mix matched disorder. I feel like I am standing on the side where I can see the design. I can see the pattern in the chaos. Does that make better me than anyone else? Of course not, but I sure can share my perspective with others and assist them if they will let me. Maybe another example is I am swimming in the lake. I give you my report what it is like swimming in the lake. You disagree. Those terms dont describe what your swimming in the lake is like. But I may be swimming in a freshwater lake in Wisconsin at 4pm in the middle of July. There is a thunderstorm way off in the west. I can hear the rumblings. I can see the forests and the native animals that live in that locale. I describe them all to you..the scents, the way the air feels, the softness of the water. The bright greeness of the algae up the rocks as the minnow dart under them searching for food. You say, that is not the way it is. My lake is fed by a hot water spring. It has a bit of a salty taste and there is no algae on the rocks. You are taking a swim at midnight. You see the milky way spread across the inky sky. The wind is soft and barely blows. You can smell the pine trees around the shallows of the shores. It is April. Oh yes, I say. I remember that lake. How beautiful, how lovely. Come sit in my lake for awhile for it is beautiful and lovely too. No, you say. My lake is salty and the sky is dark and the stars are out. I can't be in your lake for there is only this lake. I saw yes, how beautiful and how lovely, but there are other lakes that are beautiful and lovely as well, just different. No, you say. I must have my lake this way. You must describe all lakes like my lake. They are all alike. Or, maybe you don't. You come over and have a swim in my lake. Then we go find another lake to swim in together. This lake sits under jungle canopies. The flowers are so fragrant, the air so humid. There is a waterfall that feeds that lake. How beautiful and how lovely and we find others in this lake. We share our experiences and go find other beautiful and lovely lakes to share. We share what is beautiful and so lovely with each other. That is That Which Is in its many different expression. This is just my small attempt to describe why describing in only one way can be limiting. I say from personal experience and listening to many conversations over the years that our bodies are designed to have this awakening of this energy. It makes our bodies happy to allow this to unfold. To resist the unfolding is to resist the energy that created the universe. To say I know better than the energy/consciousness that created the universe is laughably foolish and prideful. Many, many of the things that happened to me in the 90s during this awakening period I did not know what to call or define them but the result was and still is life altering and continued transformation. Along the way I met people like Dr. Glenn Morris and last year Santiago, a student and friend of Dr. Morris. People like them fill in the gaps for me with the pc terms of different traditions. I have a lot of pivotal experiences and awareness come to me through direct experience that I found out have actual names. When the energy of Shakti began to awaken in my and transform my whole being, body, mind and spirit it did excorcise the last of the fundamentalist fears that are unreasonable and hateful. The emphasis on terminologies from my side is a crutch or a life jacket people hold on to. I see and feel fluid flow of one energy/one consciousness that permeates all traditions. Impersonal intelligence or Nature harmony unfolds or an anthropormorphized Force doesn't really matter to me. I use the vehicle that works for me at that time. Some time it pleases me to lose my self in the Absolute and sometimes I delight in playing in the fields with the Gods and Goddesses. It is good to create confusion and instability in thought process. Just my opinion. Being incorrect! Question what you know and accept! That Which IS is not diminished by our puny questions, concerns, fears or desires. Be uncomfortable in your beliefs. It shows what you are attached to. The naming or I should say the attachment to the name destroys the ability to see what we want to understand. I call it everything because I see so many qualities of That manifested in different cultures. I have yet to come across One Name that ecompasses all these different qualities of how That manifested. so just a very, very small window into some of my experiences that still cannot be described or communicated without diminishing That for me. there are no words these are just some of my experiences I share. s

I know you are upset about the state the world is in. I respect and honor you for your big heart and concern and dedication for harmony and justice. We concerned for and seek the same thing...the healing of Mother Earth and all who inhabit her. s

We agree to disagree. Let's leave it at that. s

Since when was Shakti the prisoner of time and a subject of time's limitations? Again, must everything happen on your personal time schedule according to your personal beliefs about what is right to make it of value? And why only 150k years? Why not for forever? Shakti or any god is not responsible for how people behave. People are responsible for their own behavior. People give their power away to their gods. It's not the gods fault that people can't do the job. Glenn Morris used to say something that made me LOL. He said, "God doesn't hate you. You just fucked up!" People fuck up all the time. Gods are not responsible for that. s

There are many schools of Daoism and I am no expert but I think they run from Mystical Daoism to more of Confucian style Daoism to some of the modern interpretations we see now. Tao99 seems more of the Confucian school in my observation and of course, I could be very wrong. So I attend more to the mystical daoism school and if you reread my post on Johnson who is not an intellectual lightweight, his studies of ancient documents have showed that in modern times the Shen Ling that is the emination of the Dao is most like what we call the Holy Spirit. I, and many others, have come to know the Holy Spirit as the same energy of Kundalini Shakti. So to be clear this means that the Holy Spirit/Kundalini Shakti is the energy of the Dao and not technically the Dao IMO. As I have said before there are a lot of correspondences across many spiritual traditions. The more you get away from religions interpretations and start to investigate the spiritual, mystical, occult writings of major spiritual traditions they start to look the same. They aren't the same because each culture has its own lens or filter at which we all look at the same thing and interpret somewhat differently accordingly through the lens we look through. I don't think you can exactly map them over each other but there are similiarities which cannot be ignored. s

Certanly that is what one of his initial points was but now he seems to be shaking his fist at the heavens for not behaving in the image of what Whatever it is he holds in his mind. He seemed to have defined shakti/whatever in the old capricious judeo christian angry yahweh mode.It seems his view is it is God's/Shakti's/Whatever job to fix what is wrong with the world. I could be wrong. That is his attachment,his view and not mine. I have a different view. s

Since when was it the Whatever's job to do what you want it to do? To perform in the way you want it to? I didn't know you could order God around unless you believe god is made in the image of man. You have some high expectations of something you don't believe in. Or maybe you do but moved onto something else because you have been hurt or let down by your native spiritual tradition. Sounds like god is going to get some pretty bad marks down for his next job performance review by upper management. Doesn't sound like this is a my Dao is better than your Shakti debate to me. s

review his CV. he is a daoist priest and is a recognized world wide expert in Daoist Mysticism. He teaches a 7 year training in Daoist Mysticism. You can review his books here. http://www.daoistmagic.com/info.php?i=2191 He even has a Daoist CV AWARDS & HONORS 2008 Second Priest Orientation Received 2nd Lu Register as Zheng Yi Daoist Priest (Rank: Level 5 and 4). Presented at the Celestial Master's Mansion during the Xia Yuan (Original Water Festival), located in the LongHu Shan Region (Dragon Tiger Mountain). - Jiangxi Province, China 2007 Senior Priest of Tian Yun Gong Zheng Yi Daoist Temple Temple of the Celestial Cloud, Pacific Grove, California 2005 Lu Orientation during the 900th Year Anniversary of Tian Shi Fu Received the 1st Lu Register as Zheng Yi Daoist Priest (Rank: Level 7 and 6). Presented at the Celestial Master's Mansion during the Xia Yuan (Original Water Festival), located in the LongHu Shan Region (Dragon Tiger Mountain). - Jiangxi Province, China 2005 Accepted as a Disciple of the 65th Celestial Master Received Disciple's Yellow Paper Certificate (Rank: Level 9 and 8). Presented at the Long Hu Shan Monastery - Tian Shi Branch of Zheng-Yi Daoism - Jiangxi Province, Long Hu Shan Daoist Monastery, China 2004 Accepted as an 80th generation Disciple Received Disciple's Certificate (Rank: Level 9 and 8). Presented at the Mao Shan - Shang Qing Branch of Zheng-Yi Daoism - Jiang Su Province, Mao Shan Daoist Monastery, China http://www.daoistmagic.com/info.php?i=2132 We can agree to disagree. s

http://bible.cc/matthew/10-16.htm The bible verse is numerous versions with commentary at the bottom. I spent a couple of years in a fundamentalist bible college when I was younger. s

his post didnt start it. you took offense, yes?, and wanted to talk about slavery and oppression. Were you trying to clarify in your opinion what you thought we were saying? your opinion...we have no free will. your opinion we have inferiority complexes. your opinion we are zombie slaves. You probably have requoted bitchslap more than a few times. Is being in bondage a hot button for you? If he said it was consensual submission to authority would you still argue and insist that it is non consensual based on a few sentences spoken in an internet conversation versus a 16 year traditional practice? Would you like anyone to judge your whole life, character, and practice from a few sentences spoken in an internet forum? Break your whole life on a difference of definition or opinion? I haven't been bitch slapped by shakti since i was a noob. And, I get disciplined by my teacher and my teacher, which ultimately, is Shakti. Call it Goddess/God whatever floats your boat. I am not attached to the definition. To say That is God/dess is to limit what That Is. For communication sake I have used words that anthropomorphize and limit the expression and I know without a doubt that words limit expression and understanding. I accepted limits in what I know to help with understanding of the Which Can't be Known. I like to meet people where they are at and start from there. Most have a hard time knowing or even understanding That Which Cannot Be Known as the Natural Order of the Universe. And if you think I am talking about God...I am not. But talking in terms of Divine opens conversation. It takes us someplace that maybe some day we can talk about...the Unknoweable. It's better, in my personal experience, to follow and allow the natural order of the universe to unfold instead of resisting. IMO, kundalini heals the split between the body/spirit/mind matrix if not resisted. What the result ends to be is a person who dances in natural concert with the Tao. The person is no longer a slave to knee jerk reactions of the immature mind and desires but flows in a spontaneous natural harmony with All That Is. There is no resistance and there is no oppression. s

It is consensual. I don't know why you have that idea about Santi that it wasn't. He has been following Shakti path since he was 16. That's half his life. That's why I said don't make assumptions about his life and practice because this is the internet. He went into this with his eyes wide open. If one opposes the natural order of the cosmos we will break ourselves upon it. Some call that bitch slapping. It has nothing to do with slavery or oppression. It's just words we choose to describe our experiences. All our lives have greater depth and texture that can ever be captured by writing on the internet. s

and that makes us wrong and you right or at least worth fighting about because you have it all figured out for us. gee...how oppressive is that? no one's wrong and no one's right here. It's all a matter or perception of how we choose to live with that undefinable That which Is. I choose my way. You choose your way. Someone will choose something else. Why argue about it? We all chose the perception we think we live in. To argue about this attachment to our perceptions is silly. Use what works, what takes this vehicle from birth to death. Next time choose something else. s One man's trash is another man's treasure. I will defend your right to hold on to your treasure but dont try to make my treasure look like trash.

I think you are making a big, huge leap of assumptions here about Santi without knowing the depth of his spiritual practices. And that is difficult to know, since, you know, this is the internet. Either you have huge issues with authority yourself or you are just looking for a fight because you are having a bad hair day. You are not making sense. s

Nope what I said was: There is a time where some people on the k path go thru hating or resenting their teachers just like kids hating their parents. "they don't know nothing. I didn't ask to be born. You don't understand what I am growing through. You arent the boss of me! I aint your slave! Nyah, nyah" "oppressing them into slavery" is your phrase. How many kids say, "my dad is such a slave driver," where an adult see another adult calling the kid to be accountable and responsible for their actions? They do the same with Shakti. (Sorry had a phone call and lost my train of thought. I am at the hospital working.) But yes, they also say the same thing to a teacher although I have never had anyone every accuse me of bitch slapping people although I know of a few hard ass teachers who will and do. I also know of traditions where bitch slapping and hair shirts and whips and canes are a way to teach submission to a higher authority with the students' consent in spiritual traditions. We choose the way we need to learn. We can learn in comfort and ease or we can make the learning difficult and painful. But it is our choice. s

I see Santi is also writing too. Synchronicity. Shakti is cosmic action, divine intelligence that puts us on a laser path of spiritual evolution. No matter how much one thinks it is not fair or we don't have a choice can one tell the Sun not to shine because we don't like it? Would one fight with Oxygen because "i don't like that I have to breathe oxygen. I want to breathe something else." No, we don't question it. Why because it is necessary for survival. Shakti is also necessary for survival. Our bodies are designed to have a kundalini awakening. Our bodies are hardwired for spiritual evolution. There are fast paths, slow paths, long and winding paths, there are short paths and there are combinations but we must all walk a path...eventually. Not all paths are for everybody. Only a person can choose what is right for them. I can't walk the path for anyone but myself. I can't make anyone walk the path. I can't force anyone to walk the path although there are teachers who try. I don't. I have my own karma to work out. s

I have been watching people and my self go thru specific stages of kindalini development since 1991. It closely mirrors regular psycho social human development. There is an infancy stage, toddler stage, young child stage to teenage, young adult, middle adult and old adult. One can say it roughly mirrors Maslow's hierarchy of needs or any other such system that describes social, persona, cognitive development. It also mirrors the development of the chakras, from base to crown. We have to move thru all these stages. People have difficulty along the way. I can listen to stories and tell where people are stuck. Many people get stuck in the 3rd chakra development for instance. That's why we see people with savior complexes or big egos. There is a time where some people on the k path go thru hating or resenting their teachers just like kids hating their parents. "they don't know nothing. I didn't ask to be born. You don't understand what I am growing through. You arent the boss of me! I aint your slave! Nyah, nyah. " They have not grown enough to understand and they are a spritual kid in an adult body with an adult mind. They don't know what they don't know cause they haven't found out or are not ready to listen. So some break away...permanently...and some come back. Some do fine after they break away and some don't. Then there are all those possiblilities inbetween those markers. We observe and offer assistance but we can't live our students' lives for them. We can't do their life for them. We can't fix their problems for them. They have to learn how to do it themselves. s

amen dear friend... the energy of love is shared and shines on the just and unjust alike it respects no position, no authority, no politics, no religion, no caste, no traditions Shakti love multiplies exponentially when it is shared that's why it is called grace may the joy of shakti gently flow s

Ain't that the God's honest truth? who needs it? Life is amazing when Shakti is in da house. Dr. Morris used to say to me, "I bet if we gave you Acid it wouldn't even touch you." s

I have been rubbing shoulders with G since the late 90s on various kundalini internet groups. We have both grown up a bit. We have had a few flame wars with each other in our earlier days. Her fundamentalism about her path used to really set me off. She comes around and joins my groups every couple of years, pisses us off eventually because she is so hardline, and then she leaves usually taking a couple of members with her. She even pisses off some of our resident devout Hindus. The groups I run are eclectic and appreciate the diversity of authentic traditions. She seems to have calmed down a bit as I have. She's a hard task master so if that's how you want to roll she is good for that. She does have the juice. Now that she has developed her own following she doesn't troll for members like she used too. She lives on donations and was a bit of the missionary evangelist for her brand of Hinduism. I would echo a lot she says and there are points I would diverge. Personally, I think Shakti should be shared. Shakti wants to be shared. I don't think you can stop from sharing no matter what you stage of development. Like the song we used to sing in Sunday School at church when we were very little: Shakti is also Divine Intelligence and when your body/mind/spirit matrix is ready Shakti leaps from person to person whether in our own intelligence we think differently. It would be like the Persian ruler, Xerxes, who placed his chair at the edge of the shore and commanded the tides not to rise. It won't happen. Resistance is futile. It's hard enough to manage your own development without feeling responsible you have to manage others. That's what the teachers are for. So look for some to help you out with this. We are out there. s

Neurotheology has always been of great interest to me. I am fascinated that we may be hardwired to believe in God as an evolutionary survival mechanism and what that means for humans. Has anyone read this book? It looks to be a good read. http://www.amazon.com/How-Changes-Your-Brain-Neuroscientist/dp/0345503414 s

I breathe in deeply of this beauty. Thank you, thank you, thank you. love, s

Shaktipat has started. If you can't meet us in Skype (we will be there about an hour giving thanks and gratitude to our spiritual teachers) you can tune in during your meditations. It will run for 24 hours. Much shakti love, Susan