Category: Life Forms

A Collage of Reality

On By Roger B. BurtIn Cusp of Reality, Life Forms, Origins of Gaia's MajestyLeave a comment

Are we really jugglers when it comes to reality?

           

A Mutable Reality

In fact, the mutable nature of reality as we see it is not strictly related to ourselves. It also relates to what is happening in the world around us. Concerning ourselves with reality is not just a personal phenomenon. Certainly we have to keep oriented in a world filled with stimuli. Maintaining a reality relates to things personal, social and environmental. We have to relate to all the different facets of our lives.

There is the matter of what we experience moment to moment but also phenomena  and relationships throughout our life which, in itself, is a developmental process. And where we are going may be very different from where we think we are going.

Accepting Ongoing Adaptation

There was a time when vocational life was pretty much stable over our lifetime. A man would take up farming and that would be his life. A man would go to work for a company and retire from it. That is no longer the case. We cannot predict what our vocational future may be and cannot be sure of the duration of our relationships. All of those factors mean there must be many periods of adaptation.

Looking at our modern lives in that way shows why we must have an enduring belief in a stable reality. It is simply not feasible to consider all the possible variables at one given moment. It is really a tribute to our adaptability that we can maintain what we call sanity through all the changes and different stimuli. Finding enduring truth is difficult and  keeping tabs on reality is a challenge.

The Larger Context

But, in the end, we have to move beyond personal considerations because there is an inevitable social context and we also keep an eye on the future of our species. In those contexts it is important for us to not simply watch developments among segments of people and political struggles. These things can confine our perceptions.

And it is the larger matters which concern me. In the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy I concern myself with the portrayal of what might be and how it might occur. It is not just a focus on stewardship and the wellbeing of the world. Certainly those are considerations, but within those issues lie the very real issue of how women will be seen and how they will participate. Again and again I come back to the belief that we are at a tipping point and the single most important issue to which we must attend is what is happening with women and where it will lead us.

Do you have a larger focus?

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

—

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

A New Day? At Last?

On By Roger B. BurtIn Life Forms, Women Rising, WritingLeave a comment

 

Women in My Writing 

In my writing it is clear that I like women and a central theme in my Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy is the import of empowered women. 

Throughout human history women have an interesting history. There are those we love and those whom we fear. But in general women have been given a secondary place. Men rule, fight and triumph. Only do we occasionally see women who are our partners in our most violent struggles such as I have noted in the Warrior Women in the history in the Steppes of Central Asia and in the Viking struggles. These examples show us that women can join with men in different forms of struggles and partnerships. These roles are often overlooked but hint of a great richness in who we are with each other.

Now Comes a New Age

Looking back at history we see that the earliest humans are generally viewed as having the men who went out to hunt and do battle and the women remained behind to gather the fruits and to bear and raise the children. Given the nature of our earliest lives on this planet that is a realistic enough form of what we did.

But now we can experience new options. Since this new world is right out there before us we can easily observe new possibilities. Granted, women will still bear the children because there is no other option. But with richer resources they now have much more opportunities to join men in many activities. And they come with other viewpoints and orientations that enrich all of us. And so we see the opening of new types of partnership. Which is leading us into another form of struggle.

Men are not yielding their dominance and power easily and there is a certain justification to the struggle because we have much to learn and struggle will instruct us.

The Coming of Empowerment

One of the things that delight me is that I have lived in a time when the coming empowerment of women has really taken hold. The struggle has taken a long time but we see it fully taking shape. At this point we can only begin to put together the meaning and benefits. It is still far from our clear sight. But it is clear the partnerships that will grow will be diverse, important and bear glorious fruit for our future existence.

And then in my imagination I perceive the possibility of transformational possibilities. As I look around, I see women as being closer to spiritual possibilities. The difference I believe is related to our physiology and our emotional makeup.We are not universally different but there is a range and it seems to me overall that women are closer to a spiritual world. That is why in my writing I have selected women to lead us into the opening of a new set of possibilities with the universe. 

We have reached a period of renewed and dangerous struggle in human affairs and it comes just at the point where the empowerment of women is reaching a new level of strength and impact. It is possible that the timing of this empowerment may lead to a new or productive and creative era. We have a lot ahead of us but it is this element that makes me most hopeful.

I’m tired of the domination of older white men and older power hungry men in general. I see their domination has led us only into endless wars and the loss of so much potential. With what is happening now there is the possibility of ending this domination and the waste of human potential. This may be a new age and comes with all the promise of new substantive partnerships with women.

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

—

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

Expanding Our World

On By Roger B. BurtIn Cusp of Reality, Life Forms, Mythology, visionLeave a comment

 

Other Life Forms

On a day to day basis there isn’t much reason to consider the possibility of other life forms. That doesn’t mean rabbits, deer and water buffalo. Other life forms refers to the ones we cannot ordinarily perceive. But the possibility keeps coming up.

When I started working on the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy I found story lines often led to other life forms. If humankind is, in fact, moving toward some kind of denouement or transformation, is it possible we would come in contact with or form an alliance with other forms, possibly from the spirit world?  Belief in such beings or brushes with them are pervasive.

There It Was Again

Recently my wife asked if I would like to go to a workshop about dowsing. Immediately I was intrigued. It had been a long time but I had had a brush with it long ago. We were living in an eighteenth century house in a lovely rural valley. Our water came from a thirty foot dug well in front of the house. One day it was apparent that the sewage system had backed up into it. Time for a new well.

But where were we to drill. I decided to take up water witching or dowsing. The result stunned me. I’d never done it before but could feel tugs and in one place off to the side of the house the tug was very, very strong. We had the well drilled there. What a gusher! The drilling company left the pipe sticking 3 feet out of the ground and the water settled just six inches form the top. We would have had an artesian well without it.

Another Opportunity

The idea of the workshop was intriguing but I didn’t really know much about dowsing. I learned about entities, spirit guides and other powers. There we were asking questions and getting answers. It is a rich system related to other kinds of life forms and powers.

Then I remembered something. Many years ago I had gone to a dump to drop something off and was struck by terrible feelings of fear and despair. There were two employee working at the dump and when they looked up the fear and devastation in their eyes was terrible. I came away with a terrible impression of a murder. Not just a sudden murder but a tortured prolonged affair.

Energy Systems

Human beings appear to be made up of energy systems and other forms are all around us. In the workshop I learned about entities and pervasive systems. It seems I had experienced a residual effect of a cataclysmic event. I’m pleased to say I have never encountered another one.

But the richness of dowsing goes well beyond water witching. The workshop connected me to the experiences I related previously about a ghost at one house and the spirits around another place I had lived. 

Easy to Dismiss

It’s easy to proclaim that these phenomena are figments of our imagination. But, while I don’t spend a lot of time interacting with these alternative worlds, I’m impressed with their possibilities. And then when I turned to fiction and considered the possibilities of transformation as humankind reached yet another turning point I found myself back in that world.

It is enriching to consider these alternatives and more than that, it just may be that the entities, spirits and other being are important to our growth, our development and our future. Especially as we go deeper into this current morass.

May The Force Be With You!

What of this have you encountered?

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

—

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

A Life Lesson – An Unsuspected Self

On By Roger B. BurtIn Cusp of Reality, Life Forms, TransformationLeave a comment

 

Discovery

In a previous post I described an experience I had with a painful sinus condition. For fun I had taken a Tai Chi class and one evening I was in terrible sinus pain and had to sit down. Our instructor, Dell, came over and showed how I could use a Jin Shin Jyutsu flow to dissolve the congestion immediately. A few years later I went to her to work on another problem. It wasn’t particularly serious but she noticed that the energy in the left side of my body was considerably less.

I knew immediately what she was talking about. Twenty years before when I had been in a terrible auto accident the pain was so intense that I crawled into the right hand side of my body and stayed there. The decrease in the energy on my left was the result. With her help I was able to move back to the left. I know that sounds strange but the events were real and the experiences were real.

Depth of Experience

Over the years I found her treatment of various things to be very useful. I took a day long course at one point so I could manage more of it myself. What I have seen is remarkable and It is not widely understood by the medical community or the population in general.

It probably does not sound extreme to say that we animals are energy systems. But what I found astounding was that long ago the energy systems of the body and related energy locks had been mapped. It is impossible to describe it in writing but the systems weave their way through the body with effects at various times of the day and in an array of ways. I asked Dell how they had been able to do this mapping and she said she didn’t know. I have to assume it was done in ancient times when we focused our sensibilities in different way, before we were so cognitively focused.

More Recently

Not long ago I began to have joint and muscle pains which had no cause I could identify. I went to Dell and she went exploring. We did not learn why it had come about just then but she said she could see again the energy withdrawal from the time of the auto accident. She went to work over several sessions and restored the balance and distribution I had been losing. It took time but I am again feeling whole in a variety of ways. I have to assume aging had something to do with it.

A Life Lesson

What the study of medicine has brought us has been important, even crucial, but from what I have seen we have lost some old wisdom and if I describe the process I learned in the world of Jin Shin Jyutzu it is typically rejected out of hand.

But beyond the specific health benefits what this has done for me is to open reception of another form of spirituality of a markedly personal kind. Certainly we have religion but it is often based on certain defined texts and often seems to speak to a set of dicta which too often forecloses the personal exploration or, at times, becomes tyrannical. But what I have sighted goes in an entirely different direction and It is hard to describe what it has meant as I look out into the universe. Science has done wonderful things for us but there is a more personal element which hints at things much beyond the limits of what is usual for an animal species. What I have learned has been fed into my writing of the Gaia’s Majesty series.

Multiple Uses

Let me conclude with a mention of a couple of uses I have found. 

Recently I was diagnosed with Afib. It was strongly recommended that I start taking Xarelto. I was absolutely opposed because of my understanding of the risks of unproven big pharma medication. My mother died a terrible death from a condition given to her because of the medication she took. 

I understand Afib can be very dangerous. I started taking the blood thinner Nattokinase which is a thousand year old soy based product originating in Japan. It does thin my blood and costs me $240 per year, not $7100 for Xarelto. My decision was not based on money and I understand there is some risk but the other risk was much larger.  Most of my episodes of Afib come at night and wake me up because the heart problem feels like an anxiety attack. I then respond with a Jin Shin flow which stops the attack within a matter of seconds.

Another issue. At times all of us have episodes of waking up at night and can’t get back to sleep. I have a flow for that. I am finding so much safe utility from the Jin Shin Jyutzu system and I am delighted.

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

—

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

A Very Personal Recognition – My Companion

On By Roger B. BurtIn Life Forms, Mythology, vision, Women RisingLeave a comment

 

Let Me Share This

There was no sudden event, but over time I became aware of someone whom I call My Companion. I see her in the distance beyond me in my “Mind’s Eye”, not in the clarity of day.

Yes, it is a she and she has been with me for a long time. We do not often interact. From time to time she will come to me and we exchange not just thoughts but feelings. There are also times when I reach out to her and she can still or clarify unsettling feelings and perceptions.

She Is Someone Special

In the end I chose the name Companion for her because of the way she accompanies me in my life. There is no huge need or demand and I think I know what/who she represents. In Carl Jung’s theories he indicates that each of us has an opposite sex partner called an anima we carry within ourselves. I think this woman I call My Companion is my anima. I do not see her in what we call visual reality but instead see her in my “Mind’s Eye” where I look in my imagination. The clarity is touching.

It seems that when I search in my imagination that she resides in a specific time of the day no matter when I look out to her. My view suggests it is probably late afternoon or early evening because there is not full sunlight but a comfortable ambiance of light. That suggests to me she resides in the time of day when I have the most energy and feel most alive which is between the hours of four and six in the afternoon. So, it seems she is aligned to my life and energy.

Our Other Sex Partner

I’ve found Jung’s idea of an opposite sex partner who travels with us in our lives to be intriguing at many levels. I am clear about my positive regard for women and my view seems to align with who I see and what I see in My Companion. That raises an intriguing possibility. Is it possible that the nature of our opposite sex partner relates strongly to our view of that sex in our “real” life.

For example, I see stunning differences in how men relate to women. It is clear there are men who are predators when it comes to women. They may treat them poorly, abuse them and even prey on young girls. I wonder if it’s possible that these actions reflect the relationship they have with their Anima. In my Gaia’s Majesty series I have an unethical predatory Overlord who comes to suffer attacks by a woman spirit with flaming eyes. Such a spirit could well reflect an inner woman or anima who is evil and drives him to treat women so poorly. 

Different Relationships 

It may be that the men who treat women poorly have animas who are anything but loving and fulfilling partners. Instead their anima drives them to strike out at women. 

These considerations give us another form of support of the idea that the dynamics of our inner life have a great deal to do with how we are in our outer life. As such we then can see that the spirit world is not truly a creation of imagination but reflects another form of reality with which we live.

And, of course, when we begin to consider a spirit world, we open the possibilities for many forms of spirits in our personal life.

Moving Beyond

Almost all of us experience strange phenomenon, including the perception of someone nearby from time to time. It may merely come to us, but it may relate to a specific place. The stories are almost infinite and in my later years I have felt and seen so much that I feel these are things which exist in our personal and collective world.

That in turn opens the whole idea of a spirit world in general and alternatives beyond ordinary life. And so we bring these spirits to life in our imagination and such things as fiction writing. We cannot conceivably prove they do not exist and there is no reason to dismiss them utterly. One of the options is to consider and give room for an opening. I have found such an opening in my Gaia’s Majesty Series. And I find that opening satisfying.

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

—

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

Life Inseparable

On By Roger B. BurtIn Cusp of Reality, Life FormsLeave a comment

 

Do you “have a life” or did you “get a life”?

What Are We Trying to Say?

When we refer to life what are we talking about?  Are we talking about the body, mind, spirit collectively? Or are we talking about something which is a form of earth energy. We use the word “life” carelessly. At times it is hard to imagine what we are meaning when we use the word. We use it to refer to the form and elements of our existence as well as referring to the underlying process itself.

Rarely do we question what we mean by life. It’s not just a matter of the kind of life we lead. We joke with each other when we tell someone to “get a life”. Clearly they already have one but it is the form of it that is at question. And then there is the matter of the quality of that life. Our life can be highly variable but we will inevitably cling to it regardless.

Groping For Meaning

At the end of the day we do not really know what we mean by life. We can refer to inanimate things as having life or a life span. Such as a light bulb. It may be there is more truth in referring to life in such a context than we ordinarily realize. Certainly a clump of grass has a life as does that insect on the wall. But in other regards we can raise questions.

Does our planet have a life or do we simply refer to it as having a life span? We understand that our sun has a life span and there will come a day when it ceases to have its present form. But we also understand that it has a rhythm to its activity as seen in its more active and quiescent periods. Are those cycles indicative of a life form.

A SearchFor Meaning

Does humanity as a whole have a life span? Will we die out as a life form if we are unwise about our choices? Certainly we can cause death but do we create our death as an organism?

There is much more to the term life than we can believe at one simple level. Our definitions can diminish it or enhance it just as our behavior can diminish or enhance it.

Life Deserves More Attention Than It Gets

Are you still there or did I lose you? What I’m getting at is that the word “life” has a multitude of layers of meanings. But one of the things I came to in writing the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy is that we seem to suspect we are not alone. Of course most religions have such a belief but there is another level. It may be a matter of imagination, projection of feeling, or a recognition that there are so many different kinds of life forms. But, as I wrote, I kept coming back to the feeling that in this kind of story lay the perception that there are a multitude of other life forms which may be quite sentient and intelligent. But it may be a matter that we simply cannot ordinarily perceive them much less communicate with them. One of the wonderful things about telling a story is that it is possible for the author to rectify that problem.

What are your beliefs about life?

###

Don’t Miss My Developing Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy

I refer to it as a work of magical realism. It is a series with a strong mythological element and a real world setting in this time when women are being empowered at last. It is a time of wonder and awakening for all of humankind.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power – Book 1

Avery had dedicated her life to work for the future of third world women. Her life was enhanced when she met the man who became the love of her life. They could not know that they shared a destiny and that a mission set long ago by our Earth Goddess was to be revealed before 

them. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called

—

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge: The Chosen Rise – Book 2

These people, called Tethyans, live in cities in the sea but can morph into fully human form and come to land to form families. They join with the warrior women called the Andromeda to fight against the forces working to impair the future of humankind. Avery has found her birth name of Chantia and she and Beck find there is soon to be a child of seeming great import just as the world falls into terrible strife with millions already dead. 

Available Now in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon

Gaia’s Majesty-Challenge

My Valley of Spirits

On By Roger B. BurtIn Cusp of Reality, Life Forms, visionLeave a comment

 

 

Personal Alternatives

Sometimes our lives open paths and perceptions totally unexpected. In an earlier post I outlined by experience with what we concluded was a ghost in our first home in Maryland. The theme deepened.

Now I’m going to have to admit more about who I am because it relates to what I am writing in this blog and in the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy. My external persona suggests calm, quiet introversion and probably mostly a fairly focused reality. Such a persona exists, but there is another one.

Quiet Beauty

We lived in the first house in Maryland only a year and early on searched for a home to buy. Since my wife wanted a horse, it had to be in the country. It wasn’t long before we found what we were looking for. It was in a small valley far out in the country. Since we didn’t have an appointment we couldn’t see the house but drove around and looked at its setting. I was instantly engaged and said, “The house is going to have to be terrible for me not to want it.”

It turned out to be a darling two hundred year old stone house set against a hill and looking out to a small river or “creek” as it was called. It needed work, but that just meant we could make it our own. Inside the house I sensed nothing except a calm atmosphere both welcoming and uncomplicated. Outside proved to be another matter entirely.

The Mystery of Evening

Since we were in a valley, the sun set behind the hills and we descended slowly into the fading light of evening. Many evenings I was drawn to stand on the upstairs porch and enjoy the peace. 

Once upon a time the house had been on the road from Baltimore to York, Pennsylvania. On the far hill there was a road hidden by trees leading to the ruined foundations of a covered bridge. The impression of the road could still be perceived in the lawn and then ran up the hill on the other side. At dusk, many evenings, as the mist rose from the river, I had a hazy perception of the occasional traveler in a buggy or on horseback.

One Saturday morning I rose and looked out to the river and had a perception of a union soldier on guard by the bridge. This would have been one of the routes to Gettysburg during the Civil War. I saw him one other time. Again, not clear, but a strong impression.

An Opening to the Depth of Life

What I came to feel was a depth of continuing life from the past leading into the future. The impressions in this landscape were various, unfocused but led me to an inescapable experience making me feel we only perceive a narrow slice of the life and types of life by which we are surrounded. 

After all, our senses on a day to day basis serve us in specific ways and tell us little about what might surround us. I gained a new and deep perception on the property. It offered a richness of experience I found enchanting.

Then Came That Evening

As I said, the house itself was quiet, cozy and, I might even say, loving. But one evening I felt called outside again. Behind the house was a small hill. Rocky on the side toward the house, but even and inviting on top. 

There was one place near the top that I had no reason to visit but it always held my attention. I felt something there. And then one evening I was drawn and climbed up the hill and sat down. I could feel a presence. No words were spoken. Gradually I had memories of when I was a child and my fear of darkness. While those fears declined as an adult, they remained with me. That night they vanished—forever.

The Lesson

My time in that valley was a rich experience. I came away with a greater depth of perception of the life of earth itself, of the fury there can be as in the day when a hurricane led to a rampage by the river. But above all it made me open my perceptions and the understanding that we are far from alone and may yet experience the diversity and depth of the life which surely surrounds us. These perceptions fed the story which evolved into the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy.

What life forms have you experienced?

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power by Roger B. Burt

Roger B. Burt’s Amazon home page

Creating Characters and Plots by Roger B. Burt

Stepfamilies: Professionals and Stepcouples in Partnership

Whatever Happened to Community Mental Health by Roger B. Burt

The Human Personality

On By Roger B. BurtIn Life Forms, personalityLeave a comment

 

Of course you have a personality. How would you describe it?

What It Is

Character is defined as the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. As such it is hardly pinpoint. And there is no system which clearly defines what makes up character.  But being open ended is part of its utility. Sometimes, though, it’s useful to have clear definitions about stable components of a person. When we turn to personality we find such a system is available. 

The American Psychological Association defines personality as “referring to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving”. Are you now perfectly clear? Probably not, because human beings are layers of characteristics, orientations, effects of history, biochemical interactions and on and on. But it is useful personally and in many environments to have an understanding of what is stable in how we are in our interactions and our approach to the world.

Multiple Realities But No Illness

It is important to understand that the description of a person’s personality has no connotation of mental illness at all. It may condition our behavior and reactions but primarily variations are normal and merely different. And, in describing a given person, their personality may have characteristics of certain groups and elements which are wholly idiosyncratic. It need not refer to intelligence because, more than anything, intelligence refers to management and processing of information, knowledge and abilities.

Distinct From Intelligence

We have been in a debate about intelligence for a very long time. Measurement initially was oriented toward having information about aptitude for school. But a man by the name of Wechsler divided it into Performance skills which are needed for hands on work and Verbal skills which are more closely related to education. I’ll leave it at that except to say that intelligence can relate only to being able to retain and regurgitate information but at other levels the person can be hopelessly “stupid”.

An Enduring Framework

Personality is another matter. Yes, it is enduring and it seems that we are born with the fundamentals of it. Decades ago when I was first studying psychology it was assumed that for both intelligence and personality a stable level was achieved with adulthood. A few people, among them Carl Jung disagreed. We now view ourselves as moving through stages of adult development and that major crises can reshape us.

A Lifelong Process

Part of Jung’s contribution was to see humans as continuing to develop through life and he put it in visual specifics. Later I will go into the details of his glorious personality typology but for now I will bring in the wheel. What he calls the four functions are paired in opposition and the pairs fall at right angles to each other. Picture a wheel with just two spokes across the diameter at right angle. Now place that wheel on edge in water and to begin with it floats halfway submerged. The part above the waterline is in consciousness and the balance in the unconscious. That means we have a full conscious command of some of it but the other parts play a role but not under our full understanding or control. 

Over our lifetime this wheel is said to rise and we gain more and more command of all facets of our personality. Our abilities broaden and we have a broader perception and experience of the world. It is a glorious process.

Coming to This Blog

In blogs that will follow I will present you with the information on the two attitudes and four functions that make up the parts of our personality as Jung defined it. The wonder of it is that Jung did not just sit in Switzerland doing an intellectual exercise leading to an organized system. He went far out into the world. Freud was focused on Western medicine and Jung on mythology and the substance of a rich and powerful world. He brought back the recognition of the existence of his typology which is found across the world and in all people.

As we proceed you will see yourself, your neighbors, people you utterly dislike and people who are dear to you. When we see our personality, we understand how people different from ourselves can be rewarding, how we can bond with people like or unlike ourselves and so on. 

I’m sure you will enjoy this journey.

How would you describe your personality?

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power by Roger B. Burt

Roger B. Burt’s Amazon home page

Creating Characters and Plots by Roger B. Burt

Stepfamilies: Professionals and Stepcouples in Partnership

Whatever Happened to Community Mental Health by Roger B. Burt

Someone Precious – Companion

On By Roger B. BurtIn Life Forms, Origins of Gaia's Majesty, WritingLeave a comment

 

Is there someone who travels with you?

Discovery

She never told me her name. I call her Companion. Often she sits looking off toward a distant horizon seeming deep in concentration. I wonder what holds her attention but do not ask. I think I know.  Clearly she has a world of her own but I know she is there for me. In fact, while I don’t know her name, I know who she is. 

Every man travels through life with a woman inside of him—his anima. Our relationships with them vary considerably. A man’s anima may take many forms and may be touching, loving, a dangerous seductress, a harridan. What form of her a man carries is a mystery. If we are fortunate, we discover her and her purpose for us. Or at least she may be a resource.

Feeling

To me my Companion is a loving creature. In times of pain or desolation I call her. She comes to me and we rarely speak. She knows what I feel and we talk in feelings. To travel through life with her is a great gift I don’t know why I deserve. But she gives balance and richness in feeling and perception. Her perceptions are rich and revealing of truths too often beyond easy grasp. 

She is part of me but also a spirit and I believe I know what holds her attention in that place far away. It is the meaning and substance of the Tethyan people Companion has brought me.

Empowerment

On Earth we wonder about the destiny of humankind. We seem to grow in fits and starts from our conflicts and presently appear to be entering a culmination. Companion introduced me to the Tethyans  and their story suggests the meaning of the empowerment of women. Opposition to that empowerment is strong and bears only bitter fruit but the roots of our beings suggest it is women who will bring fulfillment and help us harvest beauty and quite probably a transformation.

Inspiration

Companion inspired me to write the story of the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy. The process is rich in conflict but also promise. We cannot be sure, but it seems there is a process of development of a kind we may not have yet perceived. It is all potential and we can hope it will be inspiring. It is a matter of asking what might be and exploring alternatives.  Through empowerment comes true partnership between men and women which brings a joining or interface between the two universal forces of the Mysterium and the Maelstrom. I will explain a possibility and it is best done through the story which is now unfolding.

Possibilities

For me life means being enticed to search possibilities. All things may have meaning but typically are not definitive. It is what they may be or could be or where they might lead that constitute the real venture of life that we have been given. The title of this blog is Cusp of Reality because that is how I perceive the world. There is no firm reality and, as you will see, the common theme of the coming posts is possibilities.  As I said in a previous post my third grade teacher told my mother that I had a lot to offer when I was in class. That meant I had taken a statement or a thought and flown out the window to explore it. And I continue the explorations in the blog posts to come. 

Do you have a form of companion?

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power by Roger B. Burt

Roger B. Burt’s Amazon home page

Creating Characters and Plots by Roger B. Burt

Stepfamilies: Professionals and Stepcouples in Partnership

Whatever Happened to Community Mental Health by Roger B. Burt

Expanding Our World

On By Roger B. BurtIn Life Forms, TransformationLeave a comment

 

Other Life Forms

On a day to day basis there isn’t much reason to consider the possibility of other life forms. That doesn’t mean rabbits, deer and water buffalo. Other life forms refers to the ones we cannot ordinarily perceive. But the possibility keeps coming up.

When I started working on the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy I found story lines often led to other life forms. If humankind is, in fact, moving toward some kind of denouement or transformation, is it possible we would come in contact with or form an alliance with other forms, possibly from the spirit world? Belief in such being or brushes with them are pervasive.

There It Was Again

Recently my wife asked if I would like to go to a workshop about dowsing. Immediately I was intrigued. It had been a long time but I had had a brush with it long ago. We were living in an eighteenth century house in a lovely rural valley. Our water came from a thirty foot dug well in front of the house. One day it was apparent that the sewage system had backed up into it. Time for a new well.

But where were we to drill. I decided to take up water witching or dowsing. The result stunned me. I’d never done it before but could feel tugs and in one place off to the side of the house the tug was very, very strong. We had the well drilled there. What a gusher! The company had left the pipe sticking 3 feet out of the ground and the water settled just six inches form the top. We would have had an artesian well without it.

Another Opportunity

The idea of the workshop was intriguing but I didn’t really know much about dowsing. I learned about entities, spirit guides and other powers. There we were asking questions and getting answers. It is a rich system related to other kinds of life forms and powers.

Then I remembered something. Many years ago I had gone to a dump to drop something off and was struck by terrible feelings of fear and despair. There were two employee working at the dump and when they looked up the fear and devastation in their eyes was terrible. I came away with a terrible impression of a murder. Not just a sudden murder but a tortured prolonged affair.

Energy Systems

Human beings appear to be made up of energy systems and other forms are all around us. In the workshop I learned about entities and pervasive systems. It seems I had experienced a residual effect of a cataclysmic event. I’m pleased to say I have never encountered another one.

But the richness of dowsing goes well beyond water witching. The workshop connected me to the experiences I related previously about a ghost at one house and the spirits around another place I had lived.

Easy to Dismiss

It’s easy to proclaim that these phenomena are figments of our imagination. But, while I don’t spend a lot of time interacting with these alternative worlds, I’m impressed with their possibilities. And then when I turned to fiction and considered the possibilities of transformation as humankind reached yet another turning point I found myself back in that world.

It is enriching to consider these alternatives and more than that, it just may be that the entities, spirits and other being are important to our growth, our development and our future.

May The Force Be With You!

What of this have you encountered?

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power by Roger B. Burt

Roger B. Burt’s Amazon home page

Creating Characters and Plots by Roger B. Burt

Stepfamilies: Professionals and Stepcouples in Partnership

Whatever Happened to Community Mental Health by Roger B. Burt