Blessed solstice. Wishing you all a peaceful, meaningful, and rejuvenating solstice time.
Taking some time to celebrate the solstice feels so needed. I find it helps to take some time out from the often hectic pace of life, to attune to its greater cycles and purpose. It’s such a nice chance to get in touch with the spiritual in what can be a very arid modern world.
Here’s an update from us:
We’ve kept working these last 3 months on a number of books, and have moved some of them near the finish line.
The new book I’ve written is now at the printer, ready for us to “press the button” as we say, to release it. We’ll do that soon after the solstice, which means it will be available in just a few weeks. The team at the publisher has done such a great job with the cover, formatting, and editing. I think it will be a nice surprise. I will announce it on the blog as soon as it’s ready.
Our major rewrite of the Ancient Solstice book is now almost complete, as it’s in the final stage of editing.
Mark has been working on finalizing his book on self-knowledge, which he’s not far from completing.
We’ve also got more book updates on the way.
I know 3 months can bring a lot of challenges with it, some that seem insurmountable, but I hope that we can all inspire and help each other to get through them, and also look to the Spiritual Sun for its support, love, and guidance. We’re each going through what we are for a reason, and are supported by the Spiritual Sun to learn and grow at every step of the way.
Thank you all so much for your encouragement and support, and to those who have donated to us and the publisher. It’s made what we’ve been able to get through in these last 3 months possible.
I resonate with what you say Julian – there seems to be an inner drive towards change, towards something new, yet it is easy to simply feel as though something is still missing. Perhaps that’s part of the drive to strive and search and seek more of what is missing. I relate to this as the ‘inner yearning’ that inspires me (albeit at different strengths, potencies and ways!) along the way. Admittedly, there are also times when I will overlook those ‘signals’ or get distracted – forget/busy to pay attention to it – which leads to a drop in effort or observation, etc. Depending on the choices/decisions I make, things are lined up for me too. I am certainly noticing that I am building up my diligence and dedication along the way, as though it is all about my personal internal options/choices/decisions along the way, a bit like refining and honing in on my spiritual focus – a training ground really. I welcome the inner change as it comes with ‘pearls of wisdom’, deeper understanding and an better appreciation of my Being and the efforts/opportunities that a placed before me to be able to develop in this way. I feel very fortunate to have had the privilege to have come across Mark and Lara’s work.
@ Marco – so true! I share many of your insights – these are trying times and we’re here to do some intense learning…!
@ Tina – Big Picture… we are but a ‘spark’, a fragment
I can answer my own question a little bit.
I was reflecting the other day: answers that reach the mind can be useful, but ones that reach the heart are much more useful. What I realized is that the way that happens is through lived experience, and the thing I was asking for already had wheels in motion in my life. For example, wanting to know how to have clarity and prioritize things, the chaotic circumstances I was finding were ideal for learning that, and maybe only exist because of that. It’s easy to think “this isn’t the result I want,” but if I think of success as learning a lesson, the outcome matters much less than understanding what circumstances are bringing out in me, positive or negative.
The other part is that… I’m not sure how to explain this, even to myself, but I’ll try… there’s something about deep suffering that pulled me into new inner realms where I didn’t recognize the inner landscape. I found new feelings, some raw and achey, some beautiful and joyous, and had to “sit”, or “be with” these intense feelings. The end result was becoming more open, perhaps more open-hearted? I resonate a lot with Rumi’s poetry about breaking open, longing, and light entering those voids. I found that after being in this a while, it’s like boundaries between inside and outside softened, so when I walk outside in the sunlight and step into the moment, it affects me more, like I’m not just in here and the world is out there, but a sort of combination. It makes it much more natural to be aware, and doesn’t require as much mental engagement (“what do I see? What do I hear? What are my thoughts?), it’s just all one awareness.
I’ve been more of a head person than a heart person most of my life, and I feel like balancing towards the heart has been a big shift, and “opening” in this way has been another big shift. I find myself enjoying things that used to be a mystery to me: dancing, concerts… I went to a concert of my favorite rock band (Muse) for my birthday and experienced so much joy. At the summer solstice, I danced around the fire while playing music and felt so free and happy. I think my mind has largely shielded me from this, which is a defense mechanism. A lot of this feels like lowering defenses.
I still feel there’s something more I could reach with the sun specifically. To “look to the Spiritual Sun for its support, love and guidance” feels like an invitation to understand something deeper. But it’s all kind of one, so I’m grateful for the pieces I’m picking up and hopefully more of it makes sense over time.
Hey Julian,
I really like your newfound oneness of inside and outside environments. I think Mark even mentioned somewhere that “our experiences of the outside world are internal anyway”, or something like that. But even though we may theoretically know that, to experience it is quite something different, and it sounds like after “breaking open” you are really touching some new inner depths within yourself… The fact that you mention poetry, and especially Rumi is quite telling. 😊
About 2 decades ago, also after an intensive suffering I discovered what all the poetry was about, and wrote my first poem ever, called “I was There”, where I tried to express the images of an inner landscape I found myself in during that experience.
Shortly after that I discovered Mark’s work and a lot of things started making sense.
Wishing you a continuous inner discovery, and joy in reconnecting with your inner Sun! 🌞
All of that sounds awesome, Julian. I’m glad you’ve gotten such insights and enjoyment out of life as of late. Thank you for sharing.
Indeed, it always feels like we can do more, but it’s beautiful when we can find that sweet spot of enjoyment in life. From reading the Kolbrin, I gather that our purpose in life is to beautify our soul and things around us as much as possible.
Thank you, Lara, for your encouraging and inspiring message. That the Spiritual Sun is there guiding and supporting us always even though we may not feel it, and that we go through everything for a reason. It gives solace.
I hope you and Mark, and everyone at the publisher, had a spiritually nourishing solstice. Looking forward to the books, both new and updated!
Happy solstice!
Thank you for the wonderful update Lara, can’t wait for the new books! 📚
We saw a beautiful solstice sunrise, with the Sun looking like a giant egg yolk, slightly oval, before it acquired its normal, round shape as it rose. I have never seen the Sun like that before, it seems it always has some surprises in stock for us. 😊
Wishing everyone a strong quarter of the year, whether it is a summer or winter one.
Hari Om! 🌞
Hari Om Lucia!
Salutations to the brilliant golden Light (Sakro Sawel) in the sky.
I’ve been focusing on this mantra for the last little while and feeling its benefits.
I’ve also been listening to your ‘family choir’ recording of this mantra and enjoying it as background music through my day. 😊
Hari Om Dimi, salutations to the Golden one indeed! 🌞
Its really inspiring to hear about your efforts with this mantra, and I hope I can give it a really good go too, in order to uplift my state and to feel that spiritual/solar connection in a real, tangible way. Thank you for sharing! 👍
Thanks, Lara for the updates and the wishes for the Solstice.
Im looking forward to the new books and im again being reminded about the importance of the truth and how it makes me feel when in contact with it.
As the lady in the last NDE that you posted, said along the lines of humanity will get to know some amazing truths.. I thought this is already happening here and elsewhere in this world and when I get that connection to those truths something remarkable happens within, something gets moved to the core, trembling in its awe. That’s the power of the truth and that’s why im really wishing for everyone to work through all the blockage within that disconnect us from our abilities to become one with those truths.
Happy Solstice to everyone everywhere! We watched a majestic sunrise, with slow motion rays coming through the trees as birds received the first light and provided a beautiful concert in anticipation. There is so much to be grateful for, and the sun has helped me so much to learn about gratitude and appreciation for all abundant life and opportunities that come my way.
In the last few months the NDE videos shared on this site have helped me see the sun and the source in a new light, and have tremendously helped my spirit find purpose in the difficulties of existence as I’ve let love permeate into more and more areas of my life, just as the sun shines its love on all creation.
“Let thy love by as the sun, which shines on all the creatures of the earth and does not favor one blade of grass for another.”
– Seven Fold Peace, Essene Gospel of Peace
Happy solstice, everyone, and thank you for the update, Lara. All the best with the final activities around the books!
Thank you Lara and Mark and the team for all your efforts with the books, videos, this website and all the opportunities. I am really looking forward to the release. I find these books so invaluable and inspiring!
Thank you also for the reminder that we go through challenging times for a reason and an it’s an opportunity to grow and strengthen our connection to the Spiritual Sun.
I hope everyone had a wonderful and peaceful Solstice and have a Merry Christmas! 🌲
It’s so nice of you, Lara, to give updates mostly during solstice or equinox period about the projects.
Thank you, and for everyone’s wishes and I’m really looking forward to the next news.
I hope and wish everyone had a special time during this solstice and has also all the strength needed for the time ahead.
I wish everyone great Summer Solstice and all the best for the time when daylight prevails darkness. Happy Summer Solstice! And thank you for updates on upcoming books, I am looking forward.
Thank you Lara & Mark, and all the publishing team for all your work and sacrifices. I hope you all had a break of sorts and got some quality time for yourselves.
Wishing everyone here all the best for the seasons ahead, I hope you had a serene solstice and recharged.
Amazing 🌞 Really looking forward to the new book and taking in all the changes as well. Thank you for the update.
A very happy solstice to everyone!!
Thank you for the updates and that important reminder, Lara.
Happy Solstice everyone ☀️
Thanks so much for the Solstice wishes and update, Lara. Wishing you, Mark and the community here an uplifting Solstice, and that each person gets what they need most from it.
I am also excited to hear the news of the forthcoming books being close to release. I look forward to reading them and am so grateful for all of the work that you, Mark and the publishing team do. I wish you all the best in bringing them across the finish line. When reading the comments here, it feels like we are all lined up on the sidelines cheering you on for the homestretch :)
Thank you for your warm words, Lara; They are touching and much needed.
Excited for the upcoming updates, an injection of your team’s divine spark and labour into the world is much needed right now. I remember I got great results riding the last wave of momentum, but unfortunately, I let it drop.
This last year has been one of a lot of change and constant challenges, while I try to maintain a certain level of performance to move the needle towards what I think is needed from me, I’m in dire need of connection and recalibration; if anything, just resting my soul. I’ve been feeling exhausted these past few weeks, so I decided to do a general checkup, and to my surprise, my bloodwork is near perfect, although I’m still waiting on some results. I have found that my efforts to put on a spiritual connection have been put off quickly by circumstances. There have been some situations that arise in life, like out of the blue, often plagued with events and details that feel as if I were in a dream, and I can’t say that I’ve done too good.
This summer solstice came with a sense of moving to another page, with some new challenges ahead. I try to keep remembrance that we are travelling to the city of endurance.
Hope everyone had a lovely solstice time wherever you are in the world. I wish you get a lot of strength to push through these hard times we find ourselves in.
I share with you one of my favorite songs, peace 🙌🏽🌞🕯️
https://youtu.be/kVXjU-quHvc?list=PLMxy067kbpQh6DyZJIIJKIm13D7TW-FY3
I found that when i move from one stage to the next it seems as though im losing the connection as you said. Its really about establishing the connection within those new circumstances or within a set of inner states that come forth. It can feel as though everything is lost but sometimes im getting a sense that beyond these difficulties there’s something awaiting, something new and wonderful, like a light at the end of the tunnel.
I feel endurance is the main theme among all of this, consciously enduring all the physical turbulence that seems to be also throwing up the emotional material for analysis. It is actually such an amazing set up when looked from a distance.
Wishing you and everyone here to stay connected to this process, to look at it from above, a place of a greater view and understanding.
Hello,Tina!
Your perspective is always appreciated; you have a nice way to neutralize things and point to the bigger picture. It’s awesome how the light works to change our perspectives if we’re open to it; nowadays, I think of endurance more in my capacity to stay in the heart with a loving outlook towards things despite circumstances, rather than being hard and somewhat stern in the way I used to think. I think studying the Kolbrin has had a lot to do with that.
Wishing you a lovely weekend.
Happy Solstice everyone.
Thank you Lara for the wishes, update, and for the work you, Mark, and the publishing team have been putting into bringing together the threads that lead to the Light of the Spiritual Sun. As everyone else in our community, I am excited about the upcoming books. The first to become available sounds a little bit mysterious, so I really look forward to reading it, as well as all of the other books.
I feel that very slowly my internal relationship with the Spiritual Sun has been starting to sprout and grow, and each day, at the conclusion of the usually busy day, I look forward to my inner chat with the Spiritual Sun, a little bit like a child awaiting Christmas.
Today, on the Solstice morning, we went to a very quiet beach and, in spite of the clouds obstructing the view of the sun, had a peaceful and uplifting sunrise.
Wishing everyone a joyful Solstice and a growing connection with the Divine.
Thank you, Lara. Happy spiritual solstice! May it help everyone devoted to spiritual work make new steps, and for the humanity to find more peace and harmony.
I can definitely relate to how the time focused on a spiritual connection helps to break the current of hectic life, and during the “special times” of the year, it seems to be even more important.
Looking forward to your new books, dear Mark and Lara, thank you so much for everything!
I can also add that I am really interested in Mark’s new book about self-knowledge. Where do we advance, and where do we fail, how many new insights do we really need to guide enough inner effort to success? I often find that many things look so normal and mundane, but with more effort, unveiling the new layers of egos. And from the other side, so many new opportunities and possibilities in life are also trapped within the subconscious, true inner change opens life to completely new twists and turns with new fuel for growth and challenges to overcome.
Happy Solstice Dear Mark & Lara and thank you for the updates on the books.
It does feel that these last three months have been challenging for many of us around the world. Like many others, your words helped me. May each one of us find strength in remembering and knowing we are not alone and have each other. Blessed solstice everyone!
Thank you Lara for your inspiring and lovely wishes.
It seems to me that you speak into peaple’s heart, because I too felt that through this message you were speaking to me.
It’s supported to feel I’m not alone in what I face at difficult periods and in everyday’s challenges, in order to keep on trying to understand why they happen, to see more clear and accept reality in me. If it wasn’t for the Spiritual Sun I don’t know if I ever had approached situations and my life this way.
Indeed celebrating the Solstice and these special events of the year helps so much to get in touch with my heart and the real purpose of life and this gives me much strength and inner peace.
Thanks very much for the update too and for all the continious hard work you and Mark are doing to help humanity and many thanks for the hard work to all the team too.
Looking forward to read the new books when they are released.
Thanks everyone here for sharing and helping so much.
Thanks very much for the update, Lara. That’s wonderful news that three new books are scheduled for release! 🙂 I look forward to them becoming available and thank you, Mark and your publishers for all your hard work. I wish you and everyone here an inspiring solstice time☀️.
Thank you so much for your Solstice message Lara, a helpful reminder.
I wish you, Mark, and everyone here an inspiring solstice time.
I also wanted to say a big thank you to everyone supporting Sura Ondrunar Publishing. We are really looking forward to the upcoming book release, and to working on the other upcoming books.
Hello Lara and everybody,
I also very much hope the energies of the sun can to flow through us in a refreshing way during these days.
The blockades seem to build up again over time and the usual routes wear out, so then I have to find a new way (even sth small) and put some effort in, to feel the connection again.
Very curious to read the suprise release book 🔥 and obviously well done for keeping it going these last three months. 🙏🏻
@Emily. What a beautiful symbol to receive in dreams. Thank you for sharing that and your insights on the… life-creating duality.
You wrote: “As well as our connection to the greater cycles of nature as individual human beings, as I now try to do this around every solstice and equinox.” I remember you mentioning this before. What exactly do you do, if there is more to it, if I may ask. Cheers.
Was the symbol 明 btw, seems it has a beautiful history with light shining in through a window.
@Julian. I’m also trying to find a way how I will be able to feel spiritual feelings most, within my current limits.
It has been difficult and my efforts inadequate tbh. But the most I’ve been able to feel is probably through combining music and prayer. When starting to listen a lot of distractions and pessimistic thoughts come, but I keep going back to the prayer, addressing different forces as I feel in that moment, often leading to prayer to the sun. It starts from more verbalised thoughts based, to more feeling. Concentration is important to reach the momentum and connectuon and I don’t exercise it enough, why? because it is lovely to be in.
I often narlturally end up humming along with an Om. Sometimes, right after, it can extra nice to be in nature and see the wind move the green leaves.
Hi Akira,
What I do is actually quite simple, spending time around solstices and equinoxes to reflect on those deeper meanings, try not to get myself completely lost in the mundane and to remind myself of the greater cycles. If I can I would take a walk in a park and just have myself immersed in the light of the morning sun and being close to nature. And I think you got it right regarding the symbol! That was it! I think did tried to look up its history and stuffs but unfortunately I don’t think I remembered it exactly 😅 I think it is kinda sad that I think I know something quite well by heart because it is technically part of the vocabulary, and I sort of know its etymology but being almost completely blind to the details regarding its history or its ancient origin. It’s like some of those words in English and likely some other languages where you know what it means and you use them often, but you don’t really understand their exact origins nor the details when it comes to their histories. In some cases they could really have ancient origins and contain hidden profound meanings, but you could be totally blind to it. I don’t know, maybe that is one aspect of the world we live in that is making us unaware of what could be hidden in plain sight! Btw sorry for the late reply! (I’ve been onto something else in the last few days that I’ve just found a chance to respond to your comment!)
Thanks Emily.
I thought both characters displayed windows, but I had another look and actually it’s not quite the case :o. It seems what was common for ‘bright’ was a symbol of a half moon and a window, showing ‘the moon shining through a window’. However the character that looks like a window now 月, seems to have morphed from a moon shaped ☽ symbol. And what was originally the window on the left was replaced, by a symbol of the sun (which happens to also look like
a window. lol)
So two morphed symbols of planetary bodies apparently, with only a trace of a windows origin.
I do love looking into these things as you can get a lot of insights. I think that originally select groups of religious authority figures would’ve put mostly spiritual meanings into a visual form, using symbols of the natural world. With sacred power to them, like in Egypt. That got expanded into scripts and then also used for mundane communications. Although other trajectories to writing probably also exist.
That time in nature sound great. Wishing you many moments like that and a sustained feeling of the same even in daily life.
Hi Akira,
From what I can find regarding the origin of “bright”, it seems like the evolution of this word in particular could be traced back to the Oracle Bone Script, which is the earliest attested form Chinese writing. It seems like two versions of this word existed, one is a combination of “sun” and “moon”, another one is apparently a “window” and a “moon” as you mentioned. And it seems like for a period of time the latter was used more often before eventually going back to the version that was a combination of “sun” and “moon”, which is the most commonly seen one today. But both versions existed. It can be a bit tricky trying to track exactly how these two versions were used and why one version might have been preferred over the other. But for me personally I do find the “sun” + “moon” version making more sense to me, if it was to contain hidden spiritual meanings(take into consideration regarding what Lucia said) As for the general “window” shape you’ve observed, I think this may has to do with the modern font of the character. It is worth noting that the pictographic origin of those words may had been more apparent in the Oracle Bone Script and to an extent the subsequent Seal Script than later forms of writing that emerged, because Chinese writing has undergone various changes in style throughout the centuries, from the original Oracle Bone Script to the Seal Script, and later evolving into the Clerical Script as well as the Regular Script. A major milestone in the evolution of Chinese writing is known as libian(隶变), where the strokes of writing became more abstract and somewhat detached from the pictographic origins prior to this occurrence. Which may explain the window shapes you see today in modern fonts. And I think there are indeed a lot that could explored with writing systems, languages and words with ancient origins because they indeed could very well contain hidden profound meanings that are largely forgotten. As you said a group of religious authority figures may have the most spiritual meanings into visual forms, but the truths they contain they have been obscured overtime for various reasons… As for the origin of writing I do have found that many cultures around the world have legends regarding the origins of their writings which describe writing as something that is like a gift from the Divine, or perhaps taught to them by one of those founders of civilizations… I don’t know but it seems like the early days of human civilization do contain many mysteries, and it would be great if more could be discovered
Thank you for the message Lara. Wishing you and Mark and everyone here a very meaningful and uplifting solstice and all the best for the coming months! ☀️
Really looking forward to reading the new books and book updates.
Thank you Lara for your wishes. I wish everyone a very inspiring Solstice and may the Light of the Spiritual Sun illuminate our daily lives.
Thank you also Lara, Mark and all of you for the tremendous effort you have put into these upcoming books. They are always a source of inspiration for me!
Many thanks on behalf of the publisher for all the donations and support from the community over these last 3 months. It’s been an amazing help and allowed us to meet our monthly expenses in advance. Wishing everyone an uplifting solstice.
Thank you for sharing the updates with us Lara! Your work could really mean a lot in the world we live in today, given that there can be so much darkness. And I can’t agree with you more that it’s a good idea to take some time to attune to the greater cycles of existence and the non-material aspects of life (if I didn’t get it wrong.) I’ve been aware that solstice is around the corner, and I have been contemplating on their deeper meanings as well as our connection to the greater cycles of nature as individual human beings, as I now try to do this around every solstice and equinox. I’ve been thinking about the forces of light and darkness lately and I think I’ve gotten a revelation just a few nights ago as I had a dream where I saw the word for “bright” in my language glowing in gold like sun rays. I was a bit puzzled when I first woke up from that dream because to me that word is just like part of our basic vocabulary and etymologically it is literally a combination of “sun” and “moon”. Like there isn’t really much to that word so I was wondering why I saw it in my dream when I was thinking about something deep. After thinking about it for a while I concluded that this was probably a reminder of what spiritual ascension means (as symbolized by the greatest light of summer solstice). In the esoteric traditions of many cultures the sun is being used to represent masculine energy and the moon is used to symbolize the feminine. As many legends around the world have illustrated the Spiritual Sun is born from the union of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine. And the truth is that forces of light and darkness aren’t enemies of one another, but rather complementary forces that exist to maintain order in nature. And that makes me wonder if that word I saw in my dream was ever meant to convey an idea like that. I do believe that many words in my language have ancient origins and it is possible that they contain hidden profound meanings. But whenever I tried to research ancient cultures, deep history or linguistics related to them, it seems like a rabbit hole that I could never reach the bottom of. And obviously my time and energy can be limited. But yeah I just wanted to share this latest experience that I had and I’m not sure if I’ve seen anything like this in my dreams before. Wish everyone a blessed solstice!
Hey Emily, happy solstice! How cool that you were shown a symbol, which is a combination of sun and moon, shining in golden light. It looks to me like a beautiful representation of the unity of masculine and feminine, which is what summer solstice is known for (also called a marriage between Heaven and Earth). And then, a combination of these 2 forces creates a golden light of the Spiritual Sun that can be born within us. 🌞 Chinese characters definitely contain some deeper truths that could be very interesting to decipher.
哈里歐姆！😉
Hey Lucia,
That explanation actually makes a lot of sense! Thank you for sharing it! I think I may have explored this before through the summer solstice alignment of Meoto Iwa/Wedded Rocks at Futami Okitama Shrine in Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan. But I guess that was a good reminder! As I could often get caught up with stuffs in the mundane world! And yes I do agree there are probably some deeper truths that would be interesting to be deciphered with Chinese characters. We’re often told that they started out as pictorial representations of things in nature being carved onto tortoise shells, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t the full story! (I’m almost certain there’s probably more to it!) I’m not sure if the world we live in with all of those complicated forces present would want us to know about all of those things though
Hi Emily,
What a simple, yet powerful message to have received in your dream. A lovely way to encourage that inner drive to seek further insights and deeper understanding from it.
I often find with messages like this, more layers of its meaning can be realised/revealed over time.
I too appreciated the summation Lucia, so thank you.
Hi Lara, Mark and Everyone,
Reflecting on the past 3 months (since the Autumn Equinox) I have felt an increase of darkness, a heaviness overall. Having my own inner states more heightened as a result has also been a challenge.
To help counteract these moments, I find that gazing into the rising sun, helps me to start the day with a spiritual focus, giving thanks and gratitude to my DM.
Great news to hear about the upcoming books, I am certainly looking forward to them being printed and available. A huge thanks to Sura Ondrunar for making this possible :-)
Hey Sofios, I’m not sure if you meant gazing directly at the rising sun, or just looking at it in your peripheral vision or gazing in the general direction of the rising sun, but just in case you haven’t come across this information before, I wanted to quickly mention that looking directly at the sun can damage your retinas so it’s better to avoid that – I don’t want you to hurt your eyes!
Hi Erik, thanks for clarifying this further. I have learnt recently that glazing into the rising sun, with open eyes, is not ideal.
Over the recent sunrises I have found that keeping my eyelids closed, when the sun is rising, gives a feeling of warmth and calming effect, without the chance of causing harm.
Thanks for clarifying this important point.
Hi Mark and Lara,
how exciting to have various book updates soon. I’m particularly looking forward to the one on Self-Knowledge 😊
A BIG thank you for your commitment and dedication to providing such profound spiritual knowledge tirelessly.
Wishing you both a wonderful and blessed Solstice also – and everyone here in this community.
And, thank you also to Sura Ondrunar for making it possible to have these valuable spiritual books made available to the public
Thank you so much for your message, it feels like you wrote it just for me, it has been the most intense 3 months of my life! I’ve become almost a stranger to myself as I adjust to a wildly different inner landscape than I’m used to.
I’d like to know how to connect with the sun better during such times? Prayer, dreams, music and poetry have been indispensable, and I’ve watched the universe rearrange itself to help me, but I can’t help but think I’m missing some important ways to bring the light in.
Like, whenever I sit down to meditate, I feel I have a choice to deal with the psyche by catching rabbits and monkeys, or something more mystical like the pure light, and I always reach for the former.
As always, can’t wait for the upcoming books!
Hello, Julian.
I’ve been thinking about your comment for the past few weeks since I also tend to have that frustrating feeling/thought that there’s something I am missing. I’ve been trying to reverse engineer the little success I have had with spiritual practice and connection in the past. For me, one of the strongest factors working against me, if not the strongest, is social media algorithms, including YouTube.
For me, it all boils down to the dopamine system in the brain and the way these algorithms abuse and hijack it. Amongst the flood of information we find ourselves in, the general perspective is that the dopamine system is a reward system, but it is more so a reward-seeking system; the reward at the completion of a task is just the signal that reinforces the pattern of behaviour that got you to said reward.I think of it as the “the journey is the whole point and not the destination” system.
I say this because I find that it is not normal to have so much intellectual information so readily available. It is not normal to have such immediate communication with everyone, basically. This is shifting our perspectives to be always on the lookout for reaffirmations and reassurance from the outside, instead of walking with faith and looking for that intangible reassurance inside. I remember that when I’m in “good shape”, having spiritual experiences is just the cherry on top because being in a state of awareness from moment to moment, connected to the inner self, is the ultimate reward in itself.
I’m changing my mind from the “What am I missing?” question, and instead I’m removing what I have in excess. Everything that we can possibly need is already inside of us, and we live in a time where the system has us perpetually seeking outwards with no satiation whatsoever. Deleting my social media accounts and the YouTube app has been a great start for me so far.
I feel very sad for the children who now grow captive to these devices in systems; it is a work of abuse and evil to the human soul and mind, and AI will only amplify this, as it’s already happening.
There’s, of course, a lot of nuance in these thought exercise, but I don’t want to make it overly extensive. I also don’t know if this is applicable to you, but I just wanted to share some thoughts. 🙂
Hope you’re having a great start to your summer, brother. 🙌