Spiritual Tossers and Spiritual Sages

The following is an extract from my upcoming book, Leading with Spirit. All of the terms in bold are found in the glossary of the book. Unfortunately I can't reproduce the glossary here.

Not that long ago I ran one of my intuition workshops, and I asked participants to pair up and to begin Channeling the Spiritual Ego of their partner. Channeling the Spiritual Ego is a particular process which I often teach because I feel it is very important that people realise how the ego influences the way we think, feel and act. The process entails psychically connecting with the deep mind of the other person and bringing forth the agendas and projections of the shadow (the name Freud, Jung and depth psychologists gave to the hidden parts of ourselves that we would rather not know about). Individuals in the New Age and consciousness movement are particularly prone to developing a strong spiritual ego.

In this workshop there was an odd number of participants, so I paired up with a man we shall call Trevor. Trevor was a writer and speaker; a notable figure in the local spiritual community of that city, and often appeared in the media whenever a radio or TV station required commentary on spiritual issues.

To begin the process, I looked at Trevor, relaxed, and allowed my awareness to become one with his. I centred myself and brought my attention into his body and began to give voice to the information that came to me.

Look at me! I’m superior to everyone. I am above all this. I know best. In fact I already know everything that you are teaching here. You are not a real spiritual teacher (referring to me). I am! I’m better than what you are. I’m enlightened! I don’t really need to be here because there is nothing you could possibly teach me.

Connecting with the Ego is quite confronting to that same ego, especially for those in spiritual circles. It exposes the trickster, the hypocrisy that inevitably arises when we are not honest about what lies within us. Part of the mythology of spiritual discourse is that spiritual people are supposed to be Christ-like. Perfect. In other words, not really human. Of course there is no way that any human being can possibly meet such expectations, so the individual begins to hide from himself. He starts to fake it. He begins to fraud. As he denies parts of his psyche, the unwelcome thoughts, desires and projections become lost in the murky world of the shadow.

Channeling the ego brings the ego into the light, and helps the individual become more transparent to himself. But it is a process fraught with difficulties. It requires that the person being channeled have a high a high level of emotional intelligence. If the person has a low level of intention to actually acknowledge his ego projections, the result can be drama. The person may become angry, and attempt to invent an alternative narrative to explain away what has been revealed. Commonly this involves rejecting the message and psychically attacking the channeler. This is the spiritual equivalent of shooting the messenger! Connecting with the ego is not an easy process to pull off, for either party.

The reason I mention all this is because Trevor wasn’t too impressed with what I’d channeled, and just said simply, “I don’t feel that is correct”. This is of course his right, and so I just let it go without judgment. It is important not the judge the ego, because any judgment of it can really accelerate the potential for drama. It is certainly possible to work with the resistance of the ego, and to gently confront people about their denials. However in this case I let it go because I intuitively felt that Trevor had absolutely no intention to look at the truth of himself.

Trevor didn’t come back for the second workshop, and in fact didn’t even bother to contact me to tell me he wouldn’t be there. I was not surprised.

However about eight months later I ran into Trevor again in another city, after a consciousness conference. We ended up having an extended chat over a cup of coffee. I knew that there was no energy on bringing up anything to do with the spiritual ego, so we just enjoyed the beverage. After a few minutes of chatting, it became clear that Trevor had completely forgotten about the Connecting work he’d done with me previously, because he began to criticise the other practitioners at the conference. With a contemptuous wave of the hand he said that other practitioners and organisers were “not enlightened”, and that he did not have a high opinion of them. I decided to humour him, and asked him if he was enlightened.

“An enlightened person would never say that he is enlightened”, he responded.

I looked at him, trying to suppress my own ego projections, which went something like this:

 “Get your hand off it, mate, before you hurt yourself! In all my time dealing with spiritual practitioners you are right up there with the biggest tossers out there!”

Well, that’s what my spiritual ego really wanted to say. Instead just I nodded and got back to my cofee. I gently acknowledged my own projections, and made a commitment to let it go. This wasn’t exactly easy, as I admit if there is one thing that pushes my buttons it is when I meet spiritual folks who think they are above everyone else. That is because there is part of me that thinks exactly the same; that I am smarter, wiser and more spiritual than the rest of the lowly dregs of humanity.

As they used to say when I was a kid: it takes one to know one. The only difference between Trevor and I is that I have developed a closer relationship with that part of my psyche, and in doing so I am able to control my ego-based behavior, and most importantly, indirectly control the psychic energy fields that move through and around me. For one thing that I now understand is that the human mind is not confined to the head and body, but is embedded within streams of fluid consciousness. It is the reality of the extended mind is central to the idea of Sage Leadership that I present in this book. The leaders of yesterday were, for the most part, completely unaware of the fact that their minds were greatly influenced by the extended mind; or the fact that their own psyches greatly affected the minds of those they led via the psychic interconnectivity of the human species.

This story about Trevor and I exemplifies a key part of what I am going to teach you in this Leading with Spirit. This book is intended for the leaders of tomorrow, what I call the Leader-Sages. Leader-Sages can be found in all walks of life, not merely amongst those leaders in the spiritual and consciousness movements. We also see them in business, the arts, the media, politics and so on.

Being a Leader-Sage is not about becoming something super-human, and like Neo in The Matrix transcending the system and flying above it all like superman. Nor is it about pretending to be very spiritual, wise and holy. By my definition, Trevor is very “spiritual”, not a Leader-Sage. In fact, in some ways Sage Leadership is about allowing yourself to become more human, not less. A Leader-Sage is not merely an empowered individual with a genuine capacity for Integrated Intelligence; one who can comfortably read the psyches of those people around him, tap into consciousness fields and seek guidance from spiritual source. A Leader-Sage is a person of humility, who knows that his Integrated Intelligence is a God-given gift that requires genuine compassion and great responsibility. He also realises that all ego eventually falls. It dies. And he understands that the Leader-Sage does not need to do anything about that.

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Leading with Spirit will not be available till 2013. However you can read more about becoming a responsible Leader-Sage in my other book, Discover Your Soul Template, as well as how to develop Integrated Intelligence.

Intuitive Profile #1: Barack Obama

Obama: What lies beneath?

This is the first of my intuitive profiles, where I peer into the soul of world shakers and movers to see what lies deep within. How do I do that? It’s a channeling process. My ability to do this is partly a gift, and partly developed. I have done extensive training as a spiritual counselor and learned how to read the consciousness fields of human beings, both individuals and collectives of people (such as races, nations, the entire human race etc.). I am not going to attempt to explain or justify this here. For those who are interested in learning more about how such skills can be developed, read my book Discover Your Soul Template.

When I channel the psyche of a person I am connecting with their Soul Template - the encoded information that exists within and around them. The Soul Template contains Soul Memories of this life and past lives. It contains information about the life purpose of the individual. It also tells ‘the truth’ about the person. All people wear a mask, in order to present a face to the world which they think the world will approve of. People even hide parts of themselves from themselves, and this becomes their ‘shadow’. The shadow is powerful and ‘dark’. It can control people at an unconscious level. But you cannot hide from Spirit, and once you stand before someone who can see Spirit you are basically completely transparent. I am not claiming special powers. Integrated Intelligence is a natural, innate capacity of the human mind. All of us can develop it to some degree.

Also, I am not interested in political parties, nor taking sides and opposing an opposition in binary conflict. This approach dominates modern politics, and exacerbates the function of ego; especially its tendency towards confirmation bias. Once the ego has attached itself to an idea, it accumulates data to reinforce the validity of that idea.

My intuitive profiles examine the psyches of relevant  individuals, and are not about their political, ideological or philosophical persuasions. The Soul Template is very important. It basically determines what kind of psychic ‘energy’ the person is putting out into the world. Leaders can become channels for consciousness fields. If they repress ‘dark’ aspects of their own psyches – shame, fear, anger, prejudice etc. – they can act as a conduit via which these things expand amongst the collective of the general population. Further, when a leader is saying one thing, but his ‘energy’ is saying another, observers pick it up; although usually unconsciously. For example, if the psyche of the president is saying “I hate foreigners”, this can trigger unconscious responses in the people listening to him. This might be the channeling a hatred of foreigners; or alternatively, a stirring up anger in immigrants and expats in his country.

The consciousness field of the leader is very important, but this does not mean that the other levels of the entire socio-political system are not vital also. The political system, government policies, education systems, the media, interest groups, and activists are all very important in their own ways.

Barack Obama

For some time I have been ‘keeping an eye’ on Obama’s energy, and in that time I have seen some repeated themes emerging about him as a human being. I do not know much about him on a personal level. I have never read a book about him, and know little about his personal life.

Barack Obama is one of the ‘lighter’ leaders on the world stage. He does not have a pronounced shadow side. This means he does not project a lot of anger and blame. He is not after power and control for their own ends. He has very strong ideals. The sometimes idealistic rhetoric of his speeches is strongly correlated with the reality of Obama the man.

Obama has a strong conscience. He wants to do the right thing. There is a sense of balanced responsibility, and his expression of guilt is mostly healthy. Guilt can be pathological, especially when it is turned into self-loathing; but this is not the case with Obama. The values that were instilled in him as a child are forgiveness, racial tolerance, and equality.

Obama’s psyche has been shaped heavily by women. When I ‘look’ at his childhood, I see an absence of patriarchal energy. The father energy is largely absent. In particular, his mother and his maternal grandmother are very powerful influences. This gives him a softer and more ‘feminine’ energy than many world leaders. This does not mean that he is weak. One of his great strengths is his bullish self-belief.

It is worth mentioning Obama’s grandmother (I personally know nothing about her, only that she died not that long ago). He was very close to his grandmother, and there is still grief within Obama’s spirit for her. In part, his personal drive is a bid to win her approval. It’s as if there was a covenant between them at some level that Obama would go on and do great things. Obama’s great sense of the importance of morality and responsibility towards the entire human race largely comes from her. Obama’s grandmother saw that he could do great things. She saw the light in him. She believed in him.

Having mentioned this, there is a certain pain in Obama’s psyche because he was bullied for being ‘a wimp’. The projection is that he was not masculine or strong enough. This may have come from peers or siblings. I do not sense that this is a huge issue for him, but there is some energy around this idea. The result for Obama is that he needs to prove himself to be ‘a man’.

Obama’s energy tends to be ‘in the head’. His energy is not fully embodied. There were projections from females in his childhood that prevented his male energy from fully expressing itself. Energetically, this has to do with energy around the base chakra. He does tend to give his power away to women, and can be manipulated by them. When the base chakra does not function fully, we cannot truly stand in our power as a man, or a woman.

The other side of this is Obama’s tendency to think that men are untrustworthy, ‘bad’ and a threat. These are beliefs that he inherited from his female relatives as a child. Clearly, these beliefs affect the way he is able to relate to the male-dominated world of Congress and public life in general. Obama does have trust issues, and he has a tendency to build a wall around himself.

Obama is relatively free of prejudice. He does not hold great judgment of white people, for example. In part this is because he was raised by white people with good hearts. This is significant, because there are many people from racial minorities who are deeply prejudiced and hold racist attitudes towards majority races. One thing that living in Asia has taught me is that racism is racism, regardless of whether it exists in a white person, an Asian, or a black person. None of us is free of the potential for hatred.

After some time in office – around eighteen months – there was a shift in Obama’s energy. He became more shut off from the public. This is because he became overwhelmed by the hostility projected at him. This resulted in a mild depression, where he internalised the situation and tried to work out what he was doing wrong.  

 “Why are they doing this? I’m a good person! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Part of him was (and still is) pleading with the public.

 “I have done everything I can? What else can I do?”

In the past year or so Obama has come out of this confused, persecuted phase. His attitude has changed. He basically said, “Fuck them, I’m doing this my way!” There is anger. There has been a hardening of his attitudes. There is also a certain despair at humanity, as he looks out over a sea of hostile, hate-filled critics. He has trouble trusting the people.

This has resulted in a certain implicit hostility within him, and a ‘distancing’ of himself from others, which in turn has exacerbated his aloofness. There is a certain coldness that has emerged, which is part of the reason for a decrease in his popularity (beyond the obvious economic issues in the USA).

In short, Obama’s iron will has a negative side: bloody-minded stubbornness. “I’m going to do this my way!” This results in his building a protective wall around himself, and then he does not listen and learn so well, even when criticism is constructive. His ego builds up.

Obama’s ‘test’ is to be able to acknowledge the projections of the public, but not allow it to turn him into a cynic. He has to listen, and to understand the limitations of the system of governance of the country he leads.

The public

In the end, leadership is not just about the leader, but about the relationship between the leader and the people he leads. Relationship requires work and focus from all parties involved. Ideally, we as the general public can encourage healthy leadership by acknowledging our personal role in the way we perceive the leader. This means taking responsibility for our projections.

The people of the USA have collective Soul Issues, and these are seminal in the way any leader is received, and in how he governs. There are issues with trust in authority, unhealed anger and rage at past injustices for blacks, native Americans, women, Muslims and so on. There are hardened attitudes amongst all parties (not just whites and Christians, the politically correct scapegoats). Then there is the issue of unbalanced  individualism, such that the ego has hijacked society at many levels. Further an issue exists with media and the internet, and the way these siphon off information to affirm pre-held, fixed worldviews and personal prejudices. The issue of masculinity is also relevant, as mentioned. Obama exhibits a masculinity that is ‘softer’ than the archetypical American Big Man; the testosterone fueled hero who goes it alone to conquer the wild ‘west’.

Can people observe all this without judgment? If not why? These questions lie at the heart of the American public’s role in Obama’s leadership.

Finally…

I don’t sense much energy on Obama’s being reelected for a second term. That will have much to do with the economy, of course. Nonetheless, Obama’s presidency has been an important one as in terms of his energy. He represents a shift in our dominant images of masculinity and responsibility.

An Extraordinary Woman, an Extraordinary Time

In recent posts I have written about a most remarkable woman I once knew, whom I refer to as Jessica (not her real name). In fact, of all the many extraordinary people I’ve met in my life, she is one of the two most remarkable, the other being mystic Leonard Jacobson.

I didn’t spend a lot of time with Leonard, but I did have numerous dealings with Jessica over a period of two years, and in that time I got to know a great deal bout her. Jessica is the inspiration for the theory of Integrated Intelligence (which is the subject of much of my research) because she embodied that intelligence more than any other person I have ever encountered. 

So, please allow me to backtrack a little...

It was not until I had turned 30 that I was met a group of extraordinary people who would fully embody the idea of Integrated Intelligence.