Resonance

If two tuning forks are of the same musical scale, if you ring one then its partner will also vibrate even if it's located at the other end of the room. The concept of resonance goes a step further with quantum entanglement, whereby a change in one object will produce a corresponding change in the other, even if they are located on opposite ends of the universe.

Resonance plays an important role in one's spiritual development. After all, the goal of spiritual practice is to produce a corresponding positive change in consciousness that leads to one's spiritual evolution. Without that change, then all the knowledge acquired is not really knowledge at all but merely information, the same way that you can give a baby the blueprints for a 747 jet although the baby won't know what to do with it.

But just what is resonance as applied to spiritual practice? There are many spiritual techniques and systems, and all of them require dedication and perseverance in order to practice for any length of time. While spiritual practice is not a frivolous endeavor, we should at least enjoy what we are doing if we are to stick with it. Be happy in the fact that in this day and age we have so many systems and traditions to choose from, because at least one of them is suited for you.

Resonance is more than just choosing a system and sticking with it. We all have unique paths to follow in the course of our spiritual evolution. Just as someone who wants to be a dentist won't put too much focus on Math, Accounting or Interior Design, the particular spiritual practice you choose can either help or hinder you in your lifelong quest.

I remember the case of an acquaintance I had in college. He was really smart and had a DOST scholarship for Physics. However, his problem was that he had low grades in Math. Give him a physics problem and he had no trouble at all with the computations. But for some reason if it was a pure Math problem, he had great difficulty with it. Unfortunately, this resulted in him losing the scholarship. But this case highlights the different nuances of how we take to certain topics and skills.

The Light has many ways of expressing itself. One may be called upon to be a healer, a seer, a medium, a magician, a spiritual teacher, a clairvoyant or a life coach, among others. There are gifted people who are at least one of the previously mentioned, but not everyone can be everything at the same time. Also, having the gift is one thing, but developing the gift to the extent that you can consistently, safely and reliably use it is another thing entirely.

Often, the tricky part is determining where to put your focus, but the process of discovery is part of the lesson itself. In any case, you will feel if you are on the right path. When you resonate with a teaching, your soul itself will respond in a manner that can simply be called enlightening.

Sometimes, you need to be on a particular path for only a short period of time before you need to move on to something else. I remember the story Drunvalo Melchizedek related in his book The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life. His guides told him to go to a certain person. For the next few days, he did nothing but just sit around the person's living room for most of the day. Finally, Drunvalo approached the person to ask what he was supposed to teach, but when he tapped the person's shoulder an electric jolt sent Drunvalo crashing to the floor. Drunvalo's guides then told him that what was supposed to happen had just happened, so he was now supposed to move on to the next teacher.

Drunvalo's story just goes to show that while events may seem inexplicable to us, it all follows a grand design. If we are sensitive to our guides, we can more easily clue in to what we are supposed to do. Never feel guilty for following a certain path, no matter how simple it is. Dogma also has nothing to do with it. As long as you are following the urgings of your soul (which should mean you are not hurting anyone or violating anyone's rights), the path is the right one for you.

Just a caution, though. If you are experiencing difficulty in your practice, don't immediately jump to the conclusion that you may not be resonating with the technique or system. The difficulty could just be a natural phase that we all go through when learning a new skill or adjusting to something totally different. It can also be the result of wrong execution of technique (which a teacher should be able to correct).


On the whole, we attract what we desire most, and even unconscious desires will set this esoteric law into motion. Whatever the case, everything we encounter no matter how inexplicable, painful or negative is a piece of the grand mosaic of our life, a mosaic that we build with every thought, feeling, word and deed. Whether we see the mosaic for what it is depends on how well we have attuned ourselves to the urgings of our soul. Like in quantum entanglement, we should achieve such a resonance with our soul that its very whisper expresses itself clearly in our minds and in our life.

Looking At The Bigger Picture

Today I'm going to discuss something that is seemingly at odds with my usual range of topics, and that's the current maritime row between the Philippines and China. I decided to discuss this topic because yesterday, a news report came out about how the Russian coast guard detained two Chinese vessels that were fishing inside the Russian EEZ. The Russian ship even fired shots when the Chinese fishermen initially resisted arrest.

Based on the Facebook posts and reader comments in the news articles I've read, the above news drew praise among Filipinos because of the strong Russian response. The way in which Filipinos welcomed the news no doubt reflects the underlying frustration at the weakness of the Philippines and consequently the inability to stand up to China the way the Russians did. "If we couldn't do it ourselves, at least someone else could" pretty much sums up the sentiment.

But, at the risk of sounding unpatriotic and unsympathetic, I take the view that we should look at all these issues while detached from nationalistic sentiments (from whatever side). The reason is that the concept of national pride can be so emotionally charged and this can all too easily lead to "we're right, therefore they're automatically wrong" conclusions.

The media highlights certain stories for maximum emotional impact, sometimes at the expense of accuracy or propriety. Some statements are sometimes outright lies. Mix in competing interests that would not hesitate to inject some black propaganda here and there and you get a very confusing picture about what the picture really is. A narrow viewpoint purely based on national pride can make it easier for one to be swayed by misinformation that may be presented in the media, especially if the information caters to one's preconceived views on the whole matter.

I won't go into the minutae of all the events that have transpired. All parties have had their own missteps and contributions to the crisis. However, it may be helpful to take a look at the factors that could most likely be driving the actions of different countries.

For China, it appears that overfishing in traditional Chinese fishing grounds has been forcing Chinese fishermen to cast their nets farther and farther from shore, in one case even reaching as far as Palau. Furthermore, China wants to secure its oil supply in this time of peak oil, and the South China Sea potentially holds large areas of oil and gas reserves. There are also different signs that China's economy is in trouble, so the Chinese leadership may be trying to shore up domestic support by appearing strong in the face of foreign "aggression." What makes the situation even more complicated are reports that several government bureaucracies are competing in terms of influence in foreign policy, with the Chinese Foreign Ministry not even the most powerful of those competing blocs. This can lead to mixed and inconsistent signals that can easily be misinterpreted by other countries.

However, on the other side of things, the U.S. is also keen on retaining its role and dominance in the region. We have seen this by the way the U.S. has set up military agreements with Singapore and Australia, plus the closer cooperation we see being offered to the Philippines. There are even reports that the Philippines is being so vocal and assertive because of U.S. backing. In fact, the current crisis plays into the hands of the U.S. as formerly hostile nations in Southeast Asia are now leaning more towards the U.S. to counter China's apparent aggressiveness in the region.

We've seen the above information at one point or another in news reports going as far back as a few years ago. It's interesting that the current crisis comes at a time when the U.S. has already withdrawn from Iraq and is already well on its way to winding down its presence in Afghanistan. When I first heard the news about the drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan, I already thought that if the pattern holds, then a new crisis will emerge. Of course, there was the Arab summer and the potential conflict with Iran, but I also had the South China Sea in mind and true enough the crisis erupted in April of this year. So, what pattern am I talking about?

According to William Bramley in his book Gods of Eden, throughout history human conflict has always been encouraged, with different incidents engineered in order to steer kingdoms and later nations into war with each other. This is now conspiracy theory stuff, but if you read the book it mentions a lot of remarkable examples of how conflicts have been engineered. In short, the current South China Sea crisis is more than just about jockeying for oil and other resources. The crisis is part of a larger pattern to keep the world in some sort of conflict.

On one level, it's the banks and military-industrial complex that truly benefit from war (countries usually need to make big loans in order to build up their military or finance a war). But according to William Bramley, ultimately it is negative extraterrestial interests that influence humanity's conflict-ridden history.

Supposedly, negative extraterrestials want a divided and docile humanity to make it easier for them to achieve hegemony of our world. Aside from cultivating divisions among nations, there are many programs that are meant to undermine the very fabric of human existence, from the introduction of genetically modified foods, promoting an unhealthy lifestyle, and making a lot of sick people dependent on artificial drugs. Greedy corporations and the people who own them are merely the executors of these underlying plans whether unwittingly or not.

The e-book Discerning Alien Disinformation discusses the different ways alien disinformation has shaped mass thinking. This book will also be very helpful for UFO enthusiasts, because there really is a lot of conflicting information coming out. You can download the e-book for free at the Montalk website. Just scroll down to the bottom half of the page.

According to the book, negative extraterrestials thrive on our negative thoughts and emotions, the same way that human waste is food for certain types of bacteria. This is one other reason that negative extraterrestials want to see a world in constant fear and conflict. However which way we choose to view things, there are deeper motivations at play behind the scenes being painted in media.

In any case, while world-changing events and the conflict between nations are not under our direct control, it doesn't mean that we can't see the bigger picture being played out. The point is, we can make an immediate impact on our surroundings by the way we develop and carry ourselves. Nations and governments are nothing more than groups of individuals. If each and every individual worked at improving his or her character, larger populations will become less prone to being swayed by propaganda that seeks to ignite lower emotions such as revenge and anger.

National pride is good in the sense that it teaches us self-respect and identification with a larger grouping other than our family. But let us also remember that we are souls with physical bodies, undergoing experiences consistent with the lessons that we need to learn in this life. We are not our nationalities, and because of reincarnation it's possible that in previous lives we have incarnated as Chinese, Japanese, American or any number of races.

If we truly want to welcome a new era of peace and a golden age of human consciousness, we need to push beyond the boundaries of self respect and cross into the attitude of mutual respect. At a higher level, this mutual respect becomes namaste, or seeing the divinity in everyone, regardless of nationality, creed or race.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

Have you watched Snow White and the Huntsman? It's an interesting take on an old classic. But in case you haven't, don't worry there will be no spoilers here. Either way, this particular fairy tale is interesting, because once one becomes familiar with esoteric symbolism one can see the inner meaning behind the story.

In most versions of the the tale, the Queen sends off the huntsman to lead Snow White into the forest to kill her, but is unable to because he has fallen in love with her. Snow White takes refuge in the forest where 7 dwarfs adopt her. The Queen, learning that she is still not the fairest, tries several times to kill Snow White, finally "succeeding" when Snow White eats the poisoned apple. However, a traveling Prince comes upon Snow White and convinces the dwarfs to leave Snow White with him. This awakens Snow White and both are united in a wedding in the Prince's kingdom.

Like many esoteric stories, you can interpret these stories and fairy tales on several different levels, just like the Tree of Life in Kabbalah which can be used as a representation of the human, planetary, solar or even cosmic levels. The following is an example of how the Snow White story may be interpreted:

In our lives, how often is it that our ego (the Queen) overcomes our capacity for perfection and doing good (Snow White) such that we are stuck in the quagmire of negativity and conflict (the forest). However, spiritual systems use the 7-chakra system (7 dwarfs) in order to train and develop ourselves to achieve enlightenment and perfection, so that we are not completely lost. The other part of the story is that while our ego rules (the Queen in power), our kundalini lies dormant and cannot rise (Snow White in death). While the huntsman (incarnated soul) was not able to totally save Snow White, the Prince (our Higher Self) will descend through our chakras (convince the 7 dwarfs) so that it will lead to the revival of Snow White (awakening of the kundalini). The Prince then leads Snow White back into his kingdom for their wedding (kundalini rises up to the crown chakra, leading to enlightenment).

The symbol of the wedding is prevalent in different spiritual systems. For example, we have the chymical wedding of the alchemists and the constant reference of Israel being the bride of God in the Bible. This spiritual wedding is the goal of esoteric systems such as yoga (yoga means "union").

When we look at the symbolism of the Queen and her mirror, we get the sense that this attitude of self-absorption is what causes the problems and divisiveness in the story. But behind the self-absorption, I also see a desire for acceptance. This need for acceptance is an unwritten rule of society, as shown in this 2005 study about the effects of social acceptance on willpower and self-regulation. The article is 7 pages long so I'll just summarize it here.

In essence, there were two sets of test subjects (all college students). One set was made to feel like sh-t by being led to believe they were individually unacceptable to the whole group while the other set was made to feel that they were socially acceptable to everyone else. All test subjects were then individually tested by having a bowl of chocolate chip cookies placed in front of them, with the researchers recording how many cookies each test subject would eat. As the researchers expected, those who were made to feel socially unacceptable ate much more than those who were made to feel accepted.

Why does social acceptance play such a big role in determining behavior? In the modern world, social acceptance is more a matter of status, but in more primitive times, it was literally a matter of life and death.  In ancient times, when one lived beyond the boundaries of socially acceptable behavior, one was a liability. It was more than just not contributing to society, the outcast would also be freeloading on the limited resources of the town or city, resources that may be sorely needed in case of a hard winter or famine. Therefore, banishment was usually the punishment, with the outcast left to fend for himself against the elements, wild animals or bandits. Being an accepted member of a community was equivalent to survival. In some ancient societies, they took this a step further. In Sparta, for example, they threw newborn babies off a chasm in Mt. Taygetos if they deemed a baby as deformed and a liability. Essentially, this was a primitive form of eugenics.

Even if one just spends all day playing XBox locked up in one's room, loners today are not really loners because they still partake of the fruits of others' labor such as food and water, commodities that were much harder to collect and stock up on before the advent of the Industrial Revolution. In that sense, we are indeed luckier today.

The ingrained importance of social acceptance inadvertently encourages behavior that is meant to please others. Why do you think having a car, a house and a high paying job (or business) are so important as status symbols? They mark one as acceptable by the norms of today's society. No wonder there are people who are willing to gain all these things by hook or by crook.

I'm not saying we should just do whatever we want without regard to the rights and feelings of others. Quite the contrary, we should be responsible members of society. However, there is a fine line between social responsibility and pegging the value of one's self worth on the opinions of others. The latter is what leads to behavior that inwardly seeks the approval of others and may, ironically, trample on the rights and feelings of others just to win acceptance for oneself. It sounds paradoxical but it seems that behind every act of greed or selfishness is the desire to earn approval from one's peers.

When others criticize you, say bad things about you or simply misinterpret your motives, this certainly signals a need for self-review on your part. But if you finish that introspection and find out that you are really not doing anything wrong and you haven't hurt others whether intentionally or not, then you can still hold your head up high instead of agonizing over the perceptions and opinions of others. This also holds true even in those times it seems no one understands you or appreciates you. It's not arrogance, and it's certainly not indifference. It's simply the product of an honest assessment of oneself and a certainty of one's place in the universe.

In his book The Seat of the Soul, author Gary Zukav postulates that people act the way they do because subconsciously we feel a sense of betrayal and abandonment caused by the separation we feel from our true home, the spiritual realms where our true self dwells. It sort of makes sense because if we do feel abandoned, then that would push us to spend an inordinate amount of time and effort to earn this acceptance, this unity, with others in order to regain that feeling of self-worth that was lost when we incarnated into this physical existence.

If the above statement holds true, then true self-worth can only come by first recognizing, and then realizing, a return to our One True Source. It sounds so simple and cliche but as thousands of years of human history has shown, it's anything but easy. Fortunately, many spiritual systems do exist that provide us the guidelines we need to follow in order to re-experience our inherent divinity.

As sparks of God, how can God not love us or not value us? In God we see our true self-worth, because we are not rejects that accidentally made it this far. We may not know all or see far, but one thing is certain, we do have our place in the universe whether we accept it or not. And when we see that connection and begin to experience it, we finally learn to value ourselves, fairest of them all in the eyes of God, and we do not even need to ask a magic mirror for reassurance.

A Coin Has Two Sides

When I was still new to pranic healing, I had the chance to read the 1st edition of The Existence of God is Self-Evident by Master Choa Kok Sui. In the book, he states that in order to understand deeper spiritual concepts, one must understand the principle of paradox.

Back then, I barely had any idea of what he meant. But as I continued to study and encounter more and more esoteric treatises I began to see how different spiritual principles apparently contradict each other. I say "apparently" because this is where understanding paradox comes in, and what Master Choa was probably getting at in his book.

Once one begins to accept the nature of paradox, one can better appreciate questions such as: "If there is oneness, how can there be individuality? If God is all-powerful, why is there suffering?" And I mean truly gaining an understanding of the question. I recently saw a funny meme on Facebook that says the Bible is like a software license agreement. People never read it, but they scroll down to the bottom anyway and click "I Agree." Don't be like that.

Based on what I've observed, it is usually a lack of knowledge and understanding that makes things seem paradoxical. For instance, if an 18th century person saw today's airplanes, it would boggle that person's mind how something that is heavier than air could fly. That's because in the 18th century, people had not yet discovered the principles of aerodynamics.

We can use esoteric knowledge as a mental scaffolding to help build our understanding of the universe and its mysteries. Additional knowledge can reconcile certain things that are not obvious to our physical senses. One of the first steps is to familiarize oneself with the different esoteric laws. Just as scientists have used scientific laws to better understand our physical universe, so can one use esoteric laws to gain a glimpse of how subtle energy works.

When we touch upon metaphysics, one model I have found useful to illustrate paradox is the Taoist concept of Yin and Yang. The Yin and Yang symbol that we are all familiar with is called the Taijitu or what some prefer to call the Tai Chi symbol. We often associate Tai Chi with the martial art that millions practice for its health benefits, but Tai Chi means "Grand Ultimate." According to Taoist philosophy, the Tao (or dao) is the underlying principle of the universe which is intricately woven with the concept of yin and yang.

Yin and yang is a representation of the principle of duality, which expresses itself in the polar opposites of good and bad, night and day, black and white, etc. But the yin-yang symbol goes further, because within each opposite is the seed of the other (the black dot in the white field, and the white dot in the black field). What does this mean? Yin and yang are not static concepts. Yin changes into yang and back into yin again in an ever continuous flow. Everything always changes and this principle of change is what the Law of Cycles is trying to say. Night flows into day and back into night again. Winter gives way to spring, then to summer, then fall and back to winter. It is the dance of nature and of creation.

Because everything is dynamic, this means even ideas and mental frameworks are dynamic. This is important because mental frameworks are what we use in order to understand and process what we perceive. Take the case of the Cargo Cults. As extraced from Wikipedia:

A cargo cult is a religious practice that has appeared in many traditional pre-industrial tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced cultures. The cults focus on obtaining the material wealth (the "cargo") of the advanced culture through magic and religious rituals and practices. Cult members believe that the wealth was intended for them by their deities and ancestors.

Cargo cult activity in the Pacific region increased significantly during and immediately after World War II, when the residents of these regions observed the Japanese and American combatants bringing in large amounts of material. When the war ended, the military bases closed and the flow of goods and materials ceased. In an attempt to attract further deliveries of goods, followers of the cults engaged in ritualistic practices such as building crude imitation landing strips, aircraft and radio equipment, and mimicking the behavior that they had observed of the military personnel operating them.

From the example above, because the tribes weren't able to shift their framework outside of their traditional way of viewing and interpreting things, they totally misunderstood what was happening when the cargo planes arrived. We're talking about tangible things here such as airplanes, and yet the tribes perceived and understood them differently from how we perceive and understand those same things.. What more when one is dealing with abstruse spiritual subjects?

When one is unable to perform that shift in consciousness, understanding certain concepts becomes impossible or grossly misinterpreted. This is why blind belief and fanaticism are not good, because they hold you down to a very specific, and limited, mental framework.

Restriction is an attribute of form. We see it all around us. Take a chair, for example. The chair is a collection of atoms, but without anything to hold or bind those atoms together, there would be no chair to speak of. But just as restriction is necessary to be able to function in our daily lives, we need to shift to an unrestricted state in order to get back to the Source. Yin and Yang. A Kabbalistic teaching would illustrate this.

Kabbalistic legend says that God wished to behold God, but in order for that to happen there first had to be duality. So from Ain (No thing) which is beyond comprehension, there was a contraction or zimzum, a space like a womb within which all creation would manifest itself. In Hebrew this is called Ain Sof (without end) and in this we see the first hint of separation between God and creation. Within Ain Sof, God breathed Ain Sof Ur (endless light) where manifestation actually began and where things started to take form.

When we do meditation and let go, it's like we are traveling in reverse, going back to the Source, which is God. This is why we need to let go of form, to be able to shift our consciousness and experience God even while we are incarnated on this physical plane. In Kabbalah this is known as climbing Jacob's Ladder. In meditation sometimes we are told to be aware of the space, silence and stillness between OMs. It is by being aware of this stillness that one is able to go beyond the restrictions of form.

One of the ways that this connection with God manifests in our lives is the intuition. Through intuition one is able to get a glimpse, no matter how fleetingly, of the secrets of the universe. Some of the greatest scientific discoveries in our history have come about because of a flash of intuition, thus showing that logic and intuition are not as incompatible as one might think (again, yin and yang).

Developing the intuition to a high degree, now that's a tricky thing. It's not a "take three of these every morning and call me next week" type of thing. But this is where spiritual practice comes in, because as one goes deeper and deeper into the meditative state, one is slowly aligning one's consciousness to vibrate harmoniously with the substance of the higher planes.

But like in all things, it is through the blessing of God that we are able to achieve these things. There are many aspects to our being and the spiritual realms are limitless, yet we have been blessed with the tools and the capacity to explore these realms and perfect our being. As we make use of these faculties, we get that much closer to perfection and a return to our Source. After all, while there are two sides to a coin, there is only ONE coin.