Month: February 2017

NY Times Ad

The New York Times ran an ad during the Oscars with a powerful message about the truth. The truth is far more important in life than we sometimes stop to think about, from a spiritual point of view. When we think about Karma, what creates it and what clears it, the truth, or the evasion of it must be factored in. Karma is an unavoidable spiritual law, as immutable as the law of gravity. Part of being on a spiritual path includes the awareness of universal laws, remaining awake, self-reflective, and aware, mindful of our thoughts and actions. We know we are here to learn, evolve, and grow. The truth is an essential part of that process. You can’t heal or change what you won’t look at, it’s that simple, and that difficult.

The opposite of the truth is a lie. Lies are more than an evasion of personal responsibility. Lies rob us of an opportunity to grow. Lies rob us of opportunities for intimacy, because there can be no intimacy without trust, which is founded on honesty. The truth builds bridges, lies destroy them. The truth heals everything it touches. It illuminates, where a lie enshrouds everything in murky darkness. That is the purpose of a lie, after all. To obscure, to manipulate, to hide. Unfortunately, the things that need healing the most within ourselves can only be healed when we have the courage to shine the light of the truth onto them. Allowing wounds to continue to exist in darkness never ends well. What sits in darkness festers and becomes increasingly toxic.

In Chinese medicine, justice, fairness, the truth, morality, and integrity are a part of the Metal Element, the Lung and Large Intestine meridians. Taoist Master Yuen once said: ” Metal Element people bathe people in the light of spiritual truth, to help them break the chains that bind them, from incarnation to incarnation.” Similarly, another spiritual Master said ” And the truth shall set you free”.  The truth is an alchemical tool, anything subjected to its light is changed. So, the question is, why are so many afraid of it, given its power to heal? There are a number of reasons, actually. Let’s look at them.

1. Fear. The subconscious mind is an amazing thing. It protects one from seeing, knowing, or remembering things that it deems too dangerous for a person to process at a given moment in time. This can manifest as denial, amnesia, or cognitive dissonance, an inability to process reality. The subconscious hides the truth of some circumstances ( like sexual abuse ) from the conscious mind until it determines the person has the resources to handle it. Fear is the main reason people hide from the truth, and the main reason people don’t heal.

2. Resistance to change. Every soul has been gifted with Free Will by the Creator. Every soul chooses the pacing of their own evolution. This is their right. When we see souls that are fear-based, that are racist, bigoted, misogynistic, or that are religious extremists, consider that this is not their first rodeo incarnating with those issues. In that case, they will be allergic to the truth, breaking out in hives as soon as they are exposed to it. They will become angry at anyone who attempts to help them. Don’t. The truth is a gift one must choose. It takes courage, and not every soul has that.

3. Narcissism. When an individual has a narcissistically defended ego construct, the only thing that matters to them is how they are perceived by others. If they make a mistake, which we all do at times, accepting responsibility for that threatens their image. Their egoic survival demands a defense of itself. The truth cannot be allowed. Deflection, denial, and distortion of the facts become necessary for the egos survival. Again, those on a spiritual path cannot relate to this, as we see the ego construct as something to be gently cleared, an illusion. A narcissist has ONLY THAT as a definition of self, and will preserve it at all costs.

The ultimate spiritual truth is Divine Love. Fleeing from the truth means that one is cut off from the Universal Principle of love, compassion, healing, and joy. Seeking the truth and seeking love is the same quest, they are connected. Depriving someone of the truth intentionally creates horrific Karma. Attacking the truth has only one purpose: to enslave, to paralyze, to manipulate. Throughout history, those who have attempted to attack the truth have not fared well. Attacking the truth is to attempt to attack Divine Love, to attempt to defy Universal Law. At no time has this succeeded.

Lightworkers understand the invaluable spiritual asset that the truth is. It is an amazing ally in healing. It is pure. It is powerful. It is transformative. We will uphold it, we will defend it, we will protect it. The Earth, and all living things are at risk. An attack on the truth is an attack on life itself. We are joined together as one vibrant, loving heart to stand for the truth. We are aided and supported by the Guardians, Guides, and Teachers that watch over this dimension. Let us bathe the consciousness of humanity in the light of spiritual truth, to help to break the chains that have bound it, from incarnation to incarnation.  Let us help to free it from the chains of fear, the chains of intolerance. Let this be an awakening, a new day, a new beginning. The Truth and Love together are always the answer. May this teaching bless all who read it. Reverend Judith Star-Medicine

*** My gratitude to the New York Times for this wonderful statement about the truth.

Part of the reason behind what is happening in our country today is some people’s addiction to fear. One of the easiest ways to manipulate people is to make them afraid. If you can do that, you can then offer yourself, your political party, or your religion as the only pathway to safety. This is the oldest trick in the book, and it has worked successfully for thousands of years. Getting people to accept that if someone doesn’t look like you, believe what you believe, is from somewhere else, is in some way ” different” than you, OTHER, has led to crimes against humanity ( the Holocaust, the Inquisition, the Crusades, the genocide of Native Americans), the exploitation of the planet’s resources resulting in climate change, and the extermination of thousands of species that we co-exist with.  Fortunately, something is shifting in the consciousness of humanity.

Today, we are seeing an uprising, a refusal to be abused, manipulated, and lied to. As I look at the country and see millions of people marching, protesting, writing letters, using social media, blogs, reaching out to those being discriminated against, it gives me hope. People are breaking free from the paralysis that fear induces. I’ve watched it happen, as a minister that has specialized in counseling survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence for 40 years…. something happens internally. One day, the person has had enough, and the chains of fear snap. The survival imperative kicks in, and the desire to live overrides the fear of change. That’s exactly what I see happening now, all across the country. It’s as if the country is a battered person. Battered by people wielding ideologies rather than clubs. Battered by racism, misogyny, religious extremism, and denial. Now, the masses are rising, motivated by compassion, kindness, and love, which is always the antidote to fear.

A word here about the anger and frustration many of us are feeling towards the people in our lives who seem happy about what’s happening now. It’s hard not to want to shake people awake, out of whatever trance they are living in. People who tend to be fear-based also tend to resist change, and to be drawn to ideologies that offer them the illusion of safety. They are drawn to forums that feed their fears, a kind of fear-heroin, if you will. The programming of these forums is almost exclusively negative, injecting distorted information into the viewer, who has their world view validated. These are the most conservative people, drawn to fundamentalist religions and the most rigid lifestyles, with everything being about rules that they adopt and then try to force others to adopt. Underneath their strict sense of what life is supposed to look like, is fear. They are the least spontaneous, the least joyful, and the least creative people anywhere. They crave rigid social structures to give themselves some feeling of being in control of their lives. I can have compassion for them, understanding that fear is driving every choice they make. Where I run out of compassion is when they band together and puke their fear-based beliefs onto the rest of us, trying to control us.

People only change when they’re ready to change. Arguing with someone who is not awake or aware, who has no idea how fear-based they are is an exercise in futility. It’s no different than trying to have a conversation with someone in a cult, or someone who is an addict. Fearful people ARE in a cult: the cult of fear. Fearful people tend to be in denial about pretty much everything in life, because the truth scares them. Climate change? No, everything is fine. Racism? No, that’s over. Misogyny? No, women are treated fairly. This is how some politicians get elected. They understand this, and run on lies. Fearful people also tend to be very insulated from reality, bordering on being narcissistic. They are so desperate to feel safe, that anything anyone else wants or needs cannot be allowed to matter. When fear is driving the car, anyone in the way is getting run over: immigrants ( we don’t have enough money or resources already! Keep them out!), refugees ( see previous sentence), health care for all ( see previous sentence), equal rights for the LGBT community ( No! They’re different! Not the same as me. ) There is no capacity for empathy and compassion in a fearful person. Thus, they are capable of heartless acts, or at the very least will stand by passively while others commit heartless acts. Breaking up families, deporting people, discriminating against people based on religion…. heartless.

So, where do the rest of us go from here? We choose love. We choose to reject fear in all of its forms. We refuse to be bullied, and we call out bullies wherever we see them. We become relentless supporters of the truth. We keep on going, no matter what. We surround ourselves with people who are awake and aware. We choose to live from the highest and best that’s in us. We embrace our fierceness, our absolute fearlessness, and refuse to drink the kool-ade being served by the cult members. We support news sources with the courage to investigate, and report the truth. We support lawmakers that uphold the separation of Church and State guaranteed in our Constitution. We protest all others that don’t.  This is bigger than politics. This is about how we want to live our lives, deciding to live free from fear.

My heroes have always been fearless. Harriet Tubman. Mother Jones. Dr Martin Luther King. One of my favorite quotes from Harriet Tubman is ” When you hear the dogs, keep going. When you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there is shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop.  If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.” I choose love. I choose freedom. I choose kindness and compassion. I choose to welcome all in need, all those seeking refuge. Our hearts are big enough, strong enough, loving enough, to make the world a better place. No matter what, we will keep going. Ignore the shouting voices, ignore the torches, they can’t stop us. Love always wins. It has before, and will now. Blessings, Judith

Let me start by saying that this is not a political post. It’s about healing. Specifically, it’s about healing “triggers”, that is, when a current situation or event activates an old trauma still seated in the subconscious mind. Certain types of trauma can leave scars. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, racism, misogyny. Religious persecution, growing up in a religious cult, for instance, or being persecuted for being a Jew, or any persecution of anyone by religious extremists.

In Classical Chinese medicine, we see all illness as a spiritual imbalance within ourselves which offers us an invitation to change. No matter what the circumstances we can move forward, using the unpleasant circumstances to our own advantage, choosing to go deeper within ourselves to root out residual trauma. I want to bring attention to this now, since so many of my clients, and my colleagues clients, are being triggered by the events unfolding in our country. Let’s look at them, with eyes of compassion and understanding.

Let’s start with denial and invisibility as a trigger. If someone grows up in a family where the coping mechanism of the adults is denial, ( no, there’s no problem, dad is not an alcoholic, mom does not have mental illness, no, you are not being sexually abused, stop making things up), for the child living with that level of denial comes a deep awareness of being alone. Of being unseen, invisible. This makes it extremely difficult to trust. If the survival strategies of the adults around you include denial of basic facts, a refusal to look at or deal with anything that makes them uncomfortable, well, the soul of the child figures that out pretty quickly. The individual then has two choices 1, to join in with the family illusions/trance so as not to be rejected, or, 2, to accept the isolation that comes from being the only one willing to look at ANYTHING. This is where becoming ” the Truth Police”, or ” the Reality Police” is given birth to. We challenge every lie, every evasion of truth as though our sanity depends on it. Because it does. Ironically, the best investigative reporters, analysts, journalists, therapists, and Healers are given birth to out of the cauldron of denial. Having a pathological liar in a position of power recreates the family of origin dynamic and wound, accessing primal feelings of rage, fear, and a desire to reveal the truth. Telling people to ” get over it” and to ” move on” exhibits a shocking lack of awareness and empathy. For adults being triggered now by the blatant manipulation and lying taking place, try this affirmation. ” I am always in every moment connected to the Divine. Divine Truth, Divine Wisdom, Divine Love, all flow through me, surrounding me and those that I love. I am safe. No man can keep my good from me. I walk in the Light. I stand for honor and integrity. Everyone’s Karma is of their own making. Their souls lessons are their own. I am held harmless from the choices of others, and I go free into the destiny that Spirit and I create in Sacred partnership “.

Next, let’s look at the residual trauma of sexual abuse, and triggers from having a self-professed sexual offender in office. For survivors of sexual abuse, having an elected official that brags about sexually assaulting women, grabbing them by the genitals, and not only getting away with it, but being rewarded for it, is extremely difficult. It reawakens memories of helplessness, powerlessness, fear, and grief. Many survivors have kept silent, never telling anyone about their rape or molestation experience. Seeing a powerful public figure avoiding all consequences for his actions reminds women that it is not safe to speak about sexual abuse. A healing affirmation for survivors might be: ” I am a warrior of light. I am strong, free, and unafraid. I stand for those who need my compassion, my empathy. I stand for humanity. I am love and light, and no one can diminish that. I am fierce, a shining beacon in the dark. I have been forged in the flames, and have arisen as the Phoenix. This is my truth, and the gift I freely share with others. We are one heart.”

Racism has always been an issue in this country. The level of obstruction and disrespect shown to the first black president our country has had, was mind-boggling. People of color watched in horror as the Civil Rights Act was gutted, and thousands of voting places were closed across the country, all to hinder their right to vote. Watching a racist be appointed as Attorney General, one who was denounced by Coretta Scott King, brought a horrible reality to us. Feeling safe in our own country should be a right we all share. Unfortunately, at this moment, those rights are under assault. An affirmation for that might be: ” We are all children of God, and we are all created in love. I am upheld in everything I do, I am a powerful force for change. My soul is a blazing torch in the darkness of ignorance, lighting the way for humanity. My love is a beacon, so that all can be free. I am an ambassador of peace, illuminating and uplifting the consciousness of the world.”

For those who have come to our country from other lands, fleeing wars, crushing poverty and persecution, the kindness and welcome this country has always represented is also under assault. I have a daughter who was born in Damascus, Syria. She is an American citizen, with an American passport. Due to the recent ban imposed on many Middle-Eastern countries including Syria, banning Muslims from entering the U.S., many are afraid to travel, fearing they will not be allowed back into the country, to return to their homes and families. This is religious persecution, pure and simple. It is against everything this country is meant to stand for. It is fear-based and ugly. A good affirmation for someone in those circumstances might be is: ” The ground I stand upon is Holy Ground. I find refuge and welcome, kindness and compassion, wherever I go. I manifest safety, and warm and loving people are everywhere I look. ”

This is a time of tests. Who do we want to be? All spiritual traditions teach us about love and kindness. Let our hearts be open, and let our spirits be strong. Let us remember that it is love and compassion that makes someone great, not wealth. Let us light the way for humanity. It is up to us, the Lightworkers, to hold the space of empathy and honor. We are strong. We are many. We shall not fail. Blessings, Judith