An epidemic of psychic hysteria is being reflected on most public forums these days. I'd blame it on Mercury retrograde (which certainly isn't helping things,) but to me, it doesn't seem so simple. Many of the healers and energy sensitives in my circle felt a strong surge of "something being wrong" on a global level from the Friday before Easter through Easter day. There was a disturbance in the Force, and it wasn't pretty.

Whenever I perceive these things, I'm saddened at how these energies on the inner plane tend to become mirrored in events which play themselves out down here in the world of "3-D." First you had the mania and the desire for blood sacrifice that accompanied the woeful Terri Schiavo tale. I felt that she was being held up as some kind of sacrificial lamb and, never being fond of blood sacrifices in any form, I steered clear of the debate about her. It seemed like both sides (those who supported having her feeding tube reinserted and those who wanted to pull the plug) were using the same dark energies in their hateful debates. It reminded me of the last election, when Democrats and Republicans were aligned in a perfect, codependent, symmetry of hate. It was the same polarized and nasty energy.

Then there was the terrible incident in Red Lake, Minnesota, where that teenager shot all of those people in an event which eerily conjured up images from the infamous Columbine shooting.

All of these events happening in conjunction plus the mass obsession with woe and death and darkness began taking on a larger, denser physical form on the inner planes. Those collected thoughtforms and obsessions that so many people were giving energy to started to gather mass.

And now we have the earthquakes in Indonesia which, at latest count, may have killed over 2,000 people.

Should it come as any surprise to us that the collective pool of our emotional energy often causes disruptions on the material plane, affecting the very Earth herself? Is it really so hard to believe that she needed to release some energy because of all the pressure we're still putting on her, through the collective power of our rage, fear, and hate?

I wonder how long we are going to believe that such events are disconnected. Didn't anybody see the movie Poltergeist? Did anyone see Carrie (the old movie or the newer version?) Doesn't anyone see how the focus of our psychic energy and our rage creates real effects down here in the world of 3-D?

We NEED to start assuming responsibility for how we direct and place our emotional energy. What disturbed me the most over these past few weeks was how people were giving into obsession and fear seemingly because they had nothing better to do! I'd make a post at a forum hinting that, um, actually, loving thy neighbor is still a pretty darned good idea, 2000 years after Jesus talked about it, and I'd immediately get shot down because, apparently, I'm not doing my "job" if I'm not busy hating people. I'm supposed to be busy hating the NWO, the evil aliens, the homosexuals, the New Agers, the government, or whatever the agenda of the moment is among these various groups.

Nobody sees that it's all the same energy. Hate does not create a world we want to live in. It's not an energy I choose to be a part of. Period.

For refusing to hate, I've been accused of being in the employ of a nefarious organization people refer to as the NWO or the New World Order. (If so, I wish you'd show me the paychecks, because they haven't exactly been rolling in lately! If I'm working as a consultant, shouldn't I have something to show for it? I think my accountant needs to know about it.)

I've been denigrated publicly for being "too New Agey" even though I am not a member of any organization and will always remain a maverick who stands outside any groups or religious organizations. (Again, I wouldn't be a part of any group who would have me as a member, to quote both Groucho Marx and Woody Allen.)

I've been recently told that I will rot in hell because I'm a "queer lover." Let's see, that one was pointed out to me after I took issue with someone making a post at RumorMillNews that opened with "YOU THINK HOMOS DON'T RUN THE GOVERNMENT?" And I objected to the hate speech that ran through the entire post. And I was gently encouraged by almost every other member of that forum to shut up. As in, it's okay to go on about the "HOMO AGENDA" and spew hatred and vile energy onto another group of people, according to the mass con census there.

Scary. What can I say?

We are SO mind-controlled as a society. The media force feeds us violent and bloody images every day, and do we ever stop and say, "Stop it, please?" No. Forums promote their own forms of hatred and intolerance under the guise of various agendas that purport to be empowering on the surface (i.e. "We love freedom! We're real Patriots") but soul-destroying and depressing in execution.

By giving energy to such places and people, we do ourself incredible damage. And I'm not just speaking about the spiritual damage that these obsessive places create (because reading inflammatory material there opens up your auric field so that dense entities can enter in and send you down the emotional slide into deeper darkness.) We tend to forget that, by allowing ourselves to continually navigate through this psychic soup of crud and fear, we're doing our BODIES incredible damage, too.

On a forum yesterday someone made a post denigrating the practice of positive thinking and tying it into to - let's see if I have this straight - Lucifer; the nefarious (according to that particular author) "New Age movement" (I'm not sure what he's talking about. I, for one, would never be a part of any organization which would have me as a member, so I'm not part of any "New Age movement.") Oh, yes, and he also went on about the evil NWO or members of the New World Order. And how astrologers are evil. And how if you practice positive thinking and seek to unite your spiritual energies with God or a Higher Power, then you're serving Satan.

Sigh. So I had to write something, even if all I did was stick to the scientific proof that positive thinking is good for you. Here's what I posted:

From the March 22, 2005 issue of the USA Today - Excerpt From an Article by Kathleen Fackelmann:

Stress Can Ravage the Body, Unless the Mind Says No

The article opens by talking about a firefighter named Cullison whose wife was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He does everything he can to reduce stress in his life to keep himself as balanced as possible and to handle all of the terribly challenging situations he is immersed in.

According to the article, "...His calm, can-do approach to life not only helps his wife, but might protect Cullison as well, according to recent research from scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, and elsewhere." "Studies suggest that high levels of stress can lead to obesity and trigger a raft of diseases - from heart attacks to ulcers. These and other stress-related diseases sicken millions of people each year in the USA, says brain researcher Bruce McEwen at the Rockefeller University in New York."

"Up to 90% of the doctor visits in the USA may be triggered by a stress-related illness, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." (End excerpt)

Meanwhile, another group of scientists at Ohio University have found that caregiving has a negative effect on the caregiver’s immune system. Being a caregiver means that your body produces higher levels of the stress hormone Interleukin-6, which is directly linked to chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis. Researchers have also found that caregivers have weaker responses to pneumonia and flu vaccines, and their wounds heal more slowly.

If people who are already under great stress (as so many of us are these days, unfortunately) can improve the biochemistry of their body by maintaining a more peaceful, loving, and yes, "positive" attitude, then I personally feel that that is a legitimate and healthy area for that person to pursue. Why wouldn't it be?

The power of positive thought needn't necessarily involve adherence to a religion, a philosophy, or New Age thought. Its effects on the body are not only self-evident, but they are scientifically measurable. Sports science alone contains vast amounts of research verifying that our body's performance, its blood circulation, oxygenation, and muscle strength, is strongly affected by thoughts and emotions.

I don't much care whether people believe in God, Goddess, a Great Spirit, a Quantum Force, a Great Monkey of the Apocalypse, or none of the above. I figure that's up to them. A diversity of beliefs and philosophies is what makes us fascinating as a species and incredibly rich as a culture.

But what we MIND, matters (to use a corny New Age phrase which the prior poster probably doesn't appreciate! :)

What we focus on, increases (to use another.)

What we obsess about creates more stress and tension in our body and, as researchers all over the world have found, positive thinking DOES help things and improve a person's quality of life.

The healing power of laughter, which is very related to positive thinking, has also been proven over and over again. There's no need to try to re-invent the wheel here. Facts are facts.

It's just more healthy to live by focusing one's thoughts and emotions in as positive of a direction as possible. It builds better communities. It fosters the well-being of families. It promotes a more livable world.

One's relationship with a God or non-God is a personal matter, and the power of positive thinking is not strictly a religious or spiritual one. I would say that it's entirely possible to separate out whatever aspects of positive thinking might be tied into a New Age philosophy that someone doesn't personally agree with and still make a winning case for the power of positive thought in a biochemical, biological, entirely physical sense.

And, from whatever angle you spin it, positive thinking IS good for you.

Hope. It does a body good.

(And that ain't no bull, either.)

One of the world's luminaries who continually teaches us all how to access the amazing energy of what I like to call "power prayer" is Dr. Wayne Dyer. His latest book, The Power of Intention, expands on the ideas he has presented in past books, and it's very good. Another earlier one I recommend is Real Magic. All of his writing is geared toward inspiring people to reawaken their ability to enter into a creative, loving, and sacred place of being united with a Higher Power and using that energy to manifest miracles for ourselves and others.

 

 The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-Create Your World Your Way

Another great writer on this subject is a researcher and author named Gregg Braden. He has been on a bit of an Indiana Jones type quest throughout his career, seeking out ancient manuscripts and recovering lost wisdom that was once a key part of sacred traditions like early Judaism and gnostic Christianity, before these great faiths became more bogged down in dogma. His work is also about the amazing power of prayer as an active type of "magic" that is part of our heritage as spiritual beings. All of his books are wonderful, but I especially like The Isaiah Effect.