Spirit Hacking: Shamanic Keys to Reclaim Your Personal Power, Transform Yourself, and Light Up the World - Shaman Durek 2019

Step Into The Unknown
Shake Up To Wake Up

Our reality here on Earth materializes through the perception of the collective. Everyone has a different perception, so whichever perception the most people believe is how our collective reality manifests itself. Currently, the matrix is programming humans with a mass perception—which is actually a mass delusion—that has people convinced that the biggest problem threatening the planet today is every human being who thinks differently than they do; and that those people are bad, and wrong, and evil, and therefore must be punished. This is why we are witnessing all these mass witch hunts being carried out by unconscious people looking for monsters to persecute. It’s kind of like the Christian Crusades, except instead of marching through the village with swords and shields, strapping so-called evildoers onto crosses, and torturing them in the name of God, people are trolling social media feeds, and crucifying each other through slandering, and name-calling, and finger-pointing, and by attacking people’s character, and destroying their reputations in the court of public opinion.

These witch hunts are creating a lot of friction among human beings and doing society a great disservice. Why? Because people are not operating with emotional intelligence, they are attacking that which they do not understand, and proclaiming it to be wrong and bad, instead of engaging that which they do not understand, so as to figure out how it got that way, and thereby to remedy the situation. Humans are not invoking the feminine factor, and therefore humans are not operating with emotional intelligence, and so they are trying to wipe out that which they don’t understand from society altogether. It’s all just a giant smoke screen to avoid taking responsibility for the fact that each and every one of us is culpable for the calamity and the destruction that is taking place here on Earth by the choices we continue to make, and the darkness we continue to deny.

THE MONSTER ISN’T A THING

The system pits us against one another by manipulating facts to create highly editorialized media content aiming to convince us that the monster is real, and that the monster is to be found among our fellow brothers and sisters. This false framing has people calling out each other’s darkness for sport, instead of calling in each other’s light to help each other evolve into better human beings. It’s just another way the matrix gets people to do its bidding for it, because people believe the media’s lies, which triggers people’s unhealed wounds, which they then project onto the monster-of-the-week by pointing fingers, and calling names, and spewing hate, and stirring up all this discord to feed the very system that’s manipulating the whole charade in the first place, while oppressing every single one of us. All it does is deepen the illusion of a divide and keep people in a state of opposition and in a state of agitation, which feeds the underworld. It doesn’t matter which side we identify with; the mere act of choosing a side empowers the darkness and the illusion of separation, which makes us every bit as responsible for the discord on this planet as the people whose side we are being programmed to blame and to condemn.

The thing is: all this drama, and all this conflict, and all this discord are just a giant distraction from the truth of the matter, which is that the monster is all of us—well, it’s the junkery inside of all of us. The big, bad, scary monster everyone wants to persecute for the state of the world is all those distorted, disregarded fragments that our shadow is holding on to for us. The monster is our rage, and our depression, and our codependence. The monster is every bit of our own darkness that we haven’t dealt with, and that we haven’t brought to the light.

If we are to meet the challenge of the Blackout, and shift this planet back into alignment, we must realize that there is no monster—that any monster anyone ever perceives in their external reality is simply something they haven’t dealt with inside themselves. And that something is asking for unconditional love and acceptance, so it can return to light intelligence and serve evolution. I mean, the whole reason we incarnate on this planet is to bring the darkness home to the light, which is why it’s so weird to see so many people not doing it.

THE SHADOW: TAKE 2

The reason people aren’t dealing with their darkness is because—as I’ve already explained—people are being programmed not to engage their shadow. You see, the matrix knows well the power the shadow holds for humans, which is why the system goes to such great lengths to keep us from exploring this sacred portal to the unknown—lest we get ourselves empowered, and get ourselves lit, and set the planet on fire, while bringing on a poprocks Giant Age.

The word shadow conjures dark visions and invokes scary connotations for a lot of people, because we have been programmed through the consensus of language to demonize it, as well as anything and everything associated with it. Think about it. If something is shadowy, the mind automatically assumes it must be evil, or scary, or bad. Think of all the stories you heard as a kid. Count Dracula sweeps in from the shadows; or, The last place anyone saw the boy was near Shadow Creek—that sort of thing. The word shadow has been imprinted with the frequencies of fear, thereby transmitting those fear frequencies every time it is spoken, or written, or thought, or read. This is how people are programmed to steer clear of the shadows, when it’s actually the exact opposite of what they need to be doing.

One of the main reasons the shadow gets a bad rap is because much of the junkery we are not taking responsibility for vibrates at some pretty dense frequencies, and therefore it is uncomfortable to look at, and uncomfortable to deal with. So while the shadow holds on to all these things for us, and waits for us to do what it has been doing for us for ourselves, we vilify the shadow, and we shun the shadow, and we avoid the shadow, and we deny the shadow, and at this point in the Blackout, we really, really, really, really, really need to be engaging the shadow, which is why I’m still talking about it.

REJECT NOT THY JUNKERY

The mind has been programmed by the matrix to compromise in order to be loved and to be liked. To accomplish this, the mind denies otherwise unsavory aspects, tendencies, characteristics, and behaviors that do not conform to the established consensus of what is considered likable or socially acceptable. This programming necessarily narrows the pool of qualities that humans are willing to acknowledge and embrace in themselves and in others. The choice to deny the truth—which is that all aspects are of the light, even the ones we don’t like all that much—has caused great suffering to the emotional body. The mind judges the behaviors and beliefs it has been indoctrinated to reject, and then it berates the emotional body for experiencing these behaviors and beliefs, thereby stinging the soul in the process. It’s a very damaging cycle, as the act of rejecting or deriding these aspects of ourselves only creates more distortions in our being, because we are at odds with what is. This creates discord in the body and in the mind, thereby contributing to more unsavory behaviors, and to more discord. The only way to correct this cycle is with love.

You have to remember that duality is a sham, and that these shadowy aspects of ourselves that we’d rather not look at are not bad, or wrong, or shameful, or tragic. They just are. But human beings are programmed to demonize the shadow, which is totally ass-backward, given that the shadow is the one that is patiently holding on to this stuff for us, waiting for us to stop pretending it’s not there, and to stop distorting our consciousness in the face of the ruse, and to start taking responsibility for our junkery, regardless of how gross we judge it to be.

JUDGMENT

Judgment is another expression of the duality sham—that whole I’m right, you’re wrong / He’s bad, she’s good thing humans get caught up in. Judgment is a tool of the darkness that shrouds the truth in human arrogance. Judgment has nothing whatsoever to do with what is so, because judgment is, by its very nature, subjective. Judgment is an opinion.

Judgment limits our perception through bias and agenda. When we are in judgment, we are operating from a place of needing to prove that we are right about a belief we are already holding. When we judge, our allegiance is not to the truth; our allegiance is to being right. It’s all well and good for fattening the ego, but it only does us a huge disservice when it comes to engaging the darkness and dancing with the shadows. Remember, it’s judgment that keeps the underworld spirits from returning to the light—the judgment they hold toward themselves. Judgment blocks our evolution, which is why humans really need to let go of this useless addiction they have to being right, and start getting neutral.

SHAMANS DON’T JUDGE

It is impossible to gain clarity or insight into the issues the shadow holds for us when we are stuck in judgment, because we have already formulated an opinion. When we are judging, all we are actually “open” to analyzing is whatever data points we can cherry-pick to confirm the biases we are choosing to identify with, which are: I’m bad; These feelings are wrong; or What kind of monster am I? When we perceive our hurts, habits, vices, tendencies, behaviors, and what have you as “bad,” we block ourselves from receiving the lessons and the gifts these energies hold for us.

Let’s say, for example, I snap at my assistant. And then I beat myself up for it, and I self-flagellate, and I tell myself that I am a mean person, and that I am an awful person, and that I am a terrible person; and I let myself sink into a funk. If I could pull my head out of my ass long enough to get it together and ask my shadow why I snapped at my assistant, and what’s really going on, I literally would not be able to hear a single drop of wisdom the shadow has to share with me. Why? Because I’m stuck in judgment, which means that I’m not neutral, and that I’m not open. So the only data I am actually available to hear is that which confirms my judgment, and confirms the thought-form that tells me that I am a mean person, and that I am an awful person, and that I am a terrible person. There is no opening in my consciousness to receive any alternative perspectives on the matter, which means I am missing out on an opportunity to gather self-knowledge, and to grow, and to shift, and to raise my vibration, and to expand my emotional intelligence, and to become something greater than the mean, awful, terrible person I keep telling myself I am.

When we are confronted with our own junkery—be it a vice, a lie, a jealous thought, a disempowering habit, or an instance of hurting someone we love—we do not judge it. Our judgment only makes the darkness stronger, which means we’ve already lost. When we are faced with a reflection of our own hurt, and our own indifference, and our own unresolved wounds, we engage those issues. We step into them. We gather the courage and the willingness to go on discovery from a place of authenticity and humility, and we collect the data points, and we connect the dots, and we put the pieces of our own puzzle together so that we can heal, and get lit.

A Shaman’s Shadow Dance

I’m going to walk myself through it so you can get the full picture. Let’s go back to an earlier example I mentioned and say that my shadow—yet again—tells me to get off the dating apps. When I ask my shadow why, it tells me that the apps are activating my tendency to conflate sex with love and acknowledgment. Okay. It’s not, like, the most fun thing to hear about myself—that I confuse sex with love, and that I confuse sex with acknowledgment. But it resonates.

Go on, Shadow, I say.

Because I am open, and curious, and humble, the shadow goes on to tell me that the reason I conflate love with sex is because I grew up without love or affection in my house, or from my family, which is true. My upbringing was very strict, very intense, and very African—completely devoid of tenderness, sensitivity, or nurturing. The only person who offered me those things as a child was the babysitter who molested me; and because I was so starved for affection, I allowed myself to go along with all the twisted shit he wanted to do to me just so I could feel nurtured.

Ouch. And, yeah. It totally makes sense. This data helps connect those dots for me. But what this insight does that’s even more amazing, is that it helps me to understand this pattern of allowing myself to go along with intimate situations that aren’t aligned for me, and to do things that aren’t resonant with me, so I can get the love and the nurturing I’ve been programmed to associate with sexual stimulation.

Now that all of these realizations have been illuminated, and all these pieces of my own personal puzzle have been illuminated, the medicine is for me to take responsibility. It is to fully embrace the whole damn thing. It is to acknowledge the part of my being that is acting this out, and to love that part of my being, and to accept that part of my being. It is to hold that little boy who grew up starved for love, and starved for affection, and to shower him with all the love and acceptance I have to give. Just as it is to hold this grown man who has made choices outside his character, and to also shower him with unconditional love and acceptance. It is to gather the lessons and the insight, and it is to say—from a place of complete and total neutrality and acceptance: Okay, that’s what happened, and those are the choices I made. How do I want to define love for myself now?

The beauty of the process is that it allows me to operate with more awareness, which means that there is less of a pull for me to respond in those same unconscious old ways moving forward, which means that I am evolving.

Learning to withhold judgment is a powerful shamanic tool that opens us up to go anywhere we want, and to be able to handle anything that life throws our way. When we are operating free from judgment, we process data more efficiently, which means that we can easily sense imbalance. Therefore, we can easily make whatever adjustments are necessary to restore balance, because we are not caught up in judging the imbalance, or complaining about the imbalance, or giving our power away to the imbalance. We’re just taking the journey. We’re riding the lit train.

Spirit Hack: Judge Not

This spirit hack trains the mind to operate from a nonjudgmental orientation, and it allows you to get comfortable in the perspective of simply observing and receiving. The practice weakens the neural pathways that stimulate judgment, and that leap to label, or attach, while allowing you to open yourself up to the perceptual pathways that are adept at navigating the shadows.

You will need a blindfold for this spirit hack, and some time alone in your room.

STEP 1

§ Blindfold yourself.

§ With your hands out in front of you, take a walk around your room (being careful not to bump into anything, or hurt yourself).

§ Touch the objects around you while acknowledging only the feeling of these objects in your hands, without attempting to describe what you are touching with words, or labels, or concepts, or images.

While doing this step, you are feeling for the sake of feeling, and having fun. Allow yourself to perceive with your hands alone, without bringing your brain into the practice. This spirit hack is about you having a completely tactile perceptual experience while developing your shamanic powers.

Practice this spirit hack every day for at least a week, resisting the urge to describe the things you are touching with words, or ideas, or images. When you are able to touch the objects in your room without giving in to the urge to describe them, then you are ready to move on to the next step.

STEP 2

§ Take a walk around your home (no blindfold this time). Perceive the objects—visually—without ascribing words or descriptions to them. Allow yourself to perceive the things in your environment without categorizing them with labels or names that make you think you understand what they actually are, just because at some point in time, someone taught you those labels, and taught you those names, and you believed their associations to be true.

Again, once you can visually catalog the objects in your room without ascribing to them words, labels, or concepts, you are ready to move on to step 3.

STEP 3

Once you’ve gotten adept at feeling and seeing objects without needing to name or categorize them, you want to do the same thing with your emotions.

§ Pay attention to your emotions throughout the day.

§ When a feeling is triggered, resist the urge to name the feeling, or to label the feeling. Instead, simply feel the feeling, and describe what the feeling actually feels like.

So, for example, if someone cuts in front of you at the grocery store, you would resist the urge to describe your feelings with an internal statement like: “I feel anger.” Instead, you would (silently) describe your actual feeling experience, which could be something like:

§ I feel heat in my face, or …

§ I feel my heartbeat racing, or …

§ I feel tension in my jaw.

The key is to stay with the kinesthetic experience of what is actually happening in your body, and to avoid the urge to let the mind make up a story about what it thinks the sensation means.

Keep practicing this spirit hack until it becomes your normal way of engaging the world, at which point it’s no longer a spirit hack; it’s a way of life.

That Time My Client Learned How Not to Judge

I had a client who was the CEO of a processed chicken meat factory. He had inherited the company from his father, and—when he first came to see me—had no misgivings about running an outfit that slaughtered animals for profit. He was very unhappy in his marriage, and in his life, and he was also very judgmental. He judged his friends, his wife’s friends, his family, his employees, his colleagues, his trainer—you name it, he judged it.

I explained to my client that he was judging as a way of distracting himself from what he really needed to be bringing awareness to, but was avoiding. I gave him this exercise. Three months later, he came in for another session, and within the first five minutes, he burst into tears.

“I never knew how hard I was leaning on judgment as a way of avoiding taking responsibility for my true feelings,” he sobbed.

My client went on to explain that he’d never thought twice about the fact that his company was slaughtering thousands and thousands of animals a year. He said that after doing this exercise, he stopped judging people, and started observing people, and that through that practice, he started observing himself. He told me that when he did, he started screaming, and he started crying, and that he couldn’t stop for a week, and that it was a good thing. He had realized that the company he was running went against the core of his being. The practice had allowed him to see that he was being judgmental as a means of avoiding his truth, and that this path his father had laid out for him by leaving him his company was not for him. Very soon after that, he let go of the business altogether.

THE MAGIC HOUR

The night is a very special time. It is a time to rest, and a time to regenerate, and a time to gather with the tribe, unhampered by the concerns of toil or survival. It is also a time to commune with the unseen, and to learn the teachings of Earth, and the ancestors, and the spirits. All shamans know the power, the potency, and the magic of the night, when the veil is thin, and the divine beckons. That is when we do our deepest work, because the night is a portal to the unknown.

During the day, the sun shines bright and gives off ultraviolet light. This ultraviolet light stirs up the senses, which are occupied tracking colors, and depth, and definition, and all the kinds of things that we don’t perceive at night. All this sensory activity stimulates the mind, which becomes hyperactive as it pushes itself to fire stronger and faster, racing to catalog all the details the senses are perceiving.

But at night we are not distracted by these things. When it is dark outside, the brain can rest, because its tasks have been greatly minimized. This allows the brain to open itself to different pathways of thinking and perceiving, and to avail itself to the invisible realms, which is where our power lies. This is why we shamans call the nighttime the magic hour.

THE DEMONIZATION OF THE DARK

Just like our friend the shadow, the night has been purposely misrepresented as scary, and spooky, and creepy, and perilous. This is because the matrix wants us to be afraid of the dark, and afraid of the magic hour, so that we will stick with the program, and follow the rules, and never venture off the path, or out of our cages, and into the great realms of evolution and potential and new pathways of perceiving that await us in the unknown. Duly indoctrinated, humans allow their fear and their judgment to repress the natural impulse to claim their true power, which can only be found by braving the dark of the night, and stepping into the unknown.

No one is born afraid of the dark. The dark is where we find our gifts and our power. We are programmed to be afraid of the dark.

Think back to your childhood. Were you afraid of the dark? Did you let your feet hang over the edge of the bed? Did you take a gigantic leap from the doorway to your bed so that whatever was waiting underneath to grab your ankles couldn’t catch you? Has it ever struck you as odd that every human alive has a version of this same childhood experience?

People are afraid of the dark because when we were kids, the smoke spirits came into our rooms at night and programmed us with fear. The smoke spirits represent a defining point in everyone’s life when they became afraid of the dark and, therefore, the unknown.

Smoke spirits are invisible operatives sent by the darkness to monitor humans’ fears, and to play upon them, so that they can feed the beings in the underworld while deterring us from venturing into the unknown, which is where our power lies. The smoke spirits take on the shapes and forms that have been programmed into our consciousness, and present themselves as such to instill children with fear of the night, and fear of the dark, and fear of the unknown, before heading back to the dark realm to share the intel they collected from our dimension.

(And, for the record, just because you’re having a hard time wrapping your mind around the idea of smoke spirits, and you think it sounds insane, doesn’t mean it’s not true.)

THE UNKNOWN

If we are to evolve and to realize our potential here on Earth, we must interface with that which causes us difficulty within ourselves. Whenever and wherever we experience difficulty in life, we must lean in to it. By leaning in to our challenges, we step into the unknown, trusting that wherever we step, we are going to be poured into by spirit, and we will be fine.

If you want liberation, go to the unknown. The unknown holds the keys to our healing, and the keys to our evolution. The unknown holds the keys to our full potential, and the keys to all the ways we are meant to thrive, and to become superhuman. The unknown holds the keys to every solution to every global threat the species is facing. Basically, the unknown is the shit.

As a child who was exposed to the same programming as all of us, I, too, was visited by the smoke spirits in my room at night; and I, too, was indoctrinated to be afraid of the dark. But at a certain point, I could feel the pull of something waiting for me in all that blackness—something powerful and profound that I did not understand. I grew tired of my fear, and I decided to face that monster hiding under the bed, and to step into the unknown. And that’s where I discovered my light, and my strength, and my power. That’s where I discovered myself.

KNOW THYSELF IN THE UNKNOWN

The only way to know yourself—like, really know who the fuck you are—is to step into the unknown. The unknown is where we get our power. There is no power to be found in following rules, or trends, or patterns, or formulas. I never got my power from any of that nonsense. My power comes from stepping into the unknown and experiencing myself as a quantum creator, and pulling in new information, and creating amazing offerings, and sharing them with the world.

That power comes from navigating the experiences the unknown gifts us, which are the specific experiences our souls need to evolve. That power makes us unstoppable, because the journeys we take to connect with it teach us to trust, and teach us to listen, and teach us to be fearless. We have only ourselves to count on in the unknown, as we are the only constant. This means that we must go inside ourselves to find all the resources we need to navigate that uncharted territory. But we will never be able to tap into those resources, or to learn those lessons, or to have those experiences, if we are not brave enough to step outside our cozy, comfy, familiar status quos, and get our asses into the unknown.

Spirit Hack: Step into the Unknown

I always tell my clients they need to face the monster hiding under the bed, which means they need to step into the unknown. It is the only way for us to understand that there is no monster, just as it is the only way for us to claim our power, and to change the world for the better.

Stepping into the unknown means saying I am willing to go to the places in myself that are uncomfortable, and to embrace them with love.

Stepping into the unknown means saying Yes to that which frightens you.

Stepping into the unknown means moving toward the things you want to run away from.

This is a spirit hack to prepare you to step into the unknown. You will need a journal, a pen, and an open mind.

§ At nighttime, with the lights on, sit in a chair. Place your bare feet on the ground, your hands palm up on your lap, and your eyes should be open. Ask yourself, out loud: “How far am I willing to travel into the unknown to find my true power?”

§ Breathe consciously and deliberately until the answer comes to you. When the answer arrives, write it in your journal.

§ Ask yourself, out loud: “What am I willing to let go of to step fully into the unknown?”

§ Breathe consciously and deliberately while you wait for the answer. When it comes, write it down in your journal.

§ Say out loud: “I am ready to step into the unknown, and it is easy, and fun, and adventurous, and it is going to take my life to the next level.”

§ Now, turn off all the lights. Return to your chair, with your bare feet on the floor, and your hands palm up on your lap. Say, out loud: “I invite the unknown into my life with love.” Repeat this statement out loud ten times.

§ Then say: “It is time, and I am ready.”

§ Turn the lights on, grab your journal, and write down a plan to do something unknown to you.

CONTROL

This is a critical time for humanity, where we are being asked to step into our fear of the unknown, and to embrace it. People are afraid of the unknown because people are taught to fear what they cannot control. You can’t control pure potential, and you can’t control the unknown. That’s intimidating for a lot of people.

As the Blackout progresses, the layers of illusion are thinning, and everything that humans have clung to as a means of security and safety is coming undone. The momentum is thrusting humans into an evolutionary initiation that is demanding that we learn what true safety and true security really are, and that we realize they can only be found inside ourselves.

A lot of people try to control reality as a way to make themselves feel safe. These people construct very limited lives for themselves, with narrow comfort zones they won’t venture outside of, and with rigid boundaries they protect by trying to control. Control blinds us by limiting the scope of possibility we can perceive. That’s why when I see people who have the control spirit in their psyche, I know immediately that they’ve missed out on a lot of opportunities.

Safety cannot be found by running around, trying to micromanage our reality construct. Safety comes from knowing the truth of who we are, and knowing the truth of what we stand for. That knowledge is bona fide, genuine, grade A safety, because it’s not some external thing that someone gave you. You cultivated that knowledge yourself, which means that no one can ever take it away from you. That’s why they say: as within, so without. When we know ourselves as safe—authentically and internally safe—then we are safe wherever we go. And it doesn’t matter what sort of tests or challenges or initiations the universe throws at us, because our safety has already been established. It’s a done deal.

But, just for the record, let’s be clear: no one is actually controlled by the control spirit. People willingly invite the control spirit into their vessels. Human beings invite the control spirit into their beings because they don’t want to take responsibility as quantum creators.

THE VOID

What we shamans call the unknown is what physicists refer to as the void—the infinite space of pure potential in which all things are imagined, created, and made manifest. The unknown is where all the magic happens.

Anyone who brings something new to the planet has to go to the unknown to get it. All of civilization’s great inventors, and innovators, and visionaries had to break free from the shackles of the matrix to get to the unknown. They had to rebel. They were the outcasts and the black sheep. They faced emotional and mental exile to break free of their programming, and to break free of the status quo, and to step into the unknown, so that they could fulfill their purpose, and enrich the world with their offerings.

People are afraid to take responsibility as quantum creators because, throughout history, everyone who has stepped up to the plate, and taken their position on the front line, has been demonized as an outcast, and as a pariah, and has endured a bunch of conflict before meeting some tragic, bloody end. Look at what happened to Gandhi, and to Martin Luther King Jr., and to JFK, all because they were willing to speak out against the matrix, and to fight for truth and freedom. So people are afraid to speak the truth, and people are afraid to bring attention to themselves, and people are afraid to make waves, and people are afraid to meet their power.

But that reality is shifting. It is no longer about just one person leading the masses, and changing the world; it is about all of us stepping into that place of leadership together. They might be able to take out one person, but they sure as hell can’t take out millions of us.

I repeat, child, face the monster.

Spirit Hack: Engage Your Fear

It’s not like I’m always 100 percent, totally comfortable in the unknown, and like I never, ever feel afraid. I’m not going to sit here like a hypocrite and pretend that I’ve transcended the human condition. I get nervous. I feel fear. But I never let fear or nerves stop me. Please. I’m a shaman. I engage that shit.

§ Call forth a fear in your mind’s eye.

When fear comes up in your life, what you want to do is bring it out from those dark, dusty, cobwebby corners of your mind where it’s hiding, and festering, and fucking with you; and you want to shine the light of consciousness on it. This means examining the fear from all angles.

§ Ask: “What’s the worst thing that can happen if _____________?”

Let’s say you have a message to share, and you want to expand your platform, but you’re afraid to post live videos on your social media feed. Instead of letting that fear stop you, you engage into that fear, and you drop in with your shadow.

So, you ask your shadow, out loud: “Shadow, what’s the worst thing that will happen if I do an Instagram Live video?”

§ Listen carefully for the answer. If you don’t hear an answer, do the spirit hack for TSD, and try again.

§ When you do hear the answer, repeat it out loud.

So, let’s say the response you hear is: I’ll mess up, and people will make fun of me, and leave rude comments. Say, out loud: “I’ll mess up, and people will make fun of me, and leave rude comments.”

§ Then ask the question again, based on the response you just got.

So, you would ask: “Shadow, what’s the worst thing that will happen if people make fun of me and leave rude comments?”

Again, listen for the answer, repeat it out loud, and ask the question again. You want to keep interrogating your shadow until the inquiry reaches its logical conclusion, and you’ve hit the end of your worst-case scenarios, and you realize that you are bigger and more powerful than any of them.

This process might not necessarily eradicate the fear entirely, but it gives you a map of the territory, so you can see what you’re really dealing with. Because when we acknowledge the truth of what is, we are free.

SAME, SAME, SAME

When we are under the influence of the control spirit, the unknown can’t get a toe in the door. How could it? There’s no opening. There’s no space. When we are controlling, all we are doing is safeguarding our status quo and ensuring the same. That’s called being stagnant. That’s called being stuck. That’s called being in hell; and it’s a surefire path to death by boredom if there ever was one, because the status quo narrows our options, and cuts off our access to the quantum field of experience. I mean, why bother even incarnating on this planet, if you’re just going to block yourself from your power, and your creative capacity? Human beings are so weird that way.

Most human beings live in a resistance field that has them perpetually seeking safety and security by going through the motions of a repetitive pattern of limited experiences, and doing the same handful of things over, and over, and over again, as though it’s Groundhog Day, every single day, except weekends and holidays, which all have their own versions of their own repetition. People living in the resistance field craft lives for themselves that follow a very predictable pattern. They get married because their parents were married. They send their kids to college because they went to college. They sit at the same chair at the dinner table. They shop at the same stores. They eat at the same restaurants. The resistance field is all about same, same, same. And all this same, same, same creates a tremendous amount of tension in physical, emotional, psychological, and mental bodies. In fact, the stress of living in a resistance field is one of the biggest reasons why humanity leans so heavily on drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism.

But people love their status quo, which is what has them continuing to make choices, and to design their lives so as to solidify their resistance fields, and to make them stronger, and thicker, and higher, and safer, and more isolating. That’s how devoted people are to staying inside their comfort zones, and to avoiding the unknown.

It’s also how people become wardens of their own prisons. The only shot people have at getting out of that prison is to rebel against themselves. It is to rebel against their indoctrination, and to rebel against their programming, and to put everything on the table, and call it all into question, while stepping out of their comfort zones, and stepping out of their same, same, same, and stepping into the unknown.

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

The thing with the status quo, aside from being a total snore, is that it limits our perception. You see, this planet is held within a kind of bubble, which is actually very similar to the social media bubbles that reflect back to us the same ideas and beliefs we already hold. Our status quo bubble is such that the collective consensus here on Earth does not acknowledge the existence of other realities besides ours.

When an astronaut is hurtling through outer space to get to Mars to collect dirt samples, he is passing countless other beings, and worlds, and galaxies, and civilizations that he can’t see. The reason he can’t see them is because he doesn’t know what he’s looking for. His perception is not attuned to see beyond what it already knows. That’s why it’s so ridiculous that NASA and these other space programs spend millions and billions of dollars sending all this technology into space when millions of children go to sleep hungry every night. I mean, it’s all well and good as far as creating bigger, better machines to go faster and farther into space, so we can collect more and more dirt samples. But if we’re talking about discovering extraterrestrial life, or something entirely new, it’s pretty pointless. That technology is never going to connect with any of the life that’s out there because we are the ones who built that technology, which means that technology is as limited as we are.

It’s the same with people who can’t see spirits. Some people can see spirits, but most cannot. Most human beings can’t even see the spirit that’s standing in the very same room, right in front of their face, speaking directly to them, because most human beings haven’t honed their perception in such a way that would allow them to sense that layer of reality; so they don’t know what to look for.

BOX MENTALITY

The matrix has designed our world to deliberately limit human perception through what I call box mentality, which narrows our perception and limits us from recognizing our options. The system programs people with box mentality through infrastructure, and through architecture, in addition to all the rules, and patterns, and formulas it indoctrinates human beings to follow.

The vast majority of urban planning has been calibrated to a masculine energetic frequency, which has created cities, and structures, and an entire world dominated by squares, and rectangles, and straight lines, and sharp angles. We drive in square boxes along streets shaped like rectangles that intersect at sharp angles in massive squares marked with straight lines. We walk on rectangle-shaped sidewalks, forged of square concrete slabs. We enter rectangular buildings through rectangular doors, to sit at rectangular desks, to stare at rectangular screens, to daydream through square windows. Our entire reality construct is molded by square this and rectangle that.

All these angles confine the brain to perceiving reality through a box. These angles restrict people’s neurological functioning such that they think in narrow, defined ways that don’t allow for expansion beyond the limited scope the box recognizes and tolerates.

The number of doors, and options, and realities, and possibilities that human beings are cutting themselves off from is truly mind-blowing. It’s really frustrating, as a shaman, because I work with so many people who come to me because they feel unfulfilled, and they feel stuck, and they feel trapped, and they feel hopeless. Except the whole time they’re talking, their spirits are showing me all these doors and all these possibilities that are available to them, but the person can’t see them, because they are blinded by box mentality.

Spirit Hack: The Walkabout

It is very important for people to start stepping away from the herd, and opening their minds, and figuring things out for themselves. This is where the walkabout comes in. A walkabout is a spiritual tool that allows us to dismantle our belief systems, and our mental constructs, and our psychological constructs, and everything we think we know as “real.” A walkabout is a journey—a discovery process that leads us to things outside our comfort zone, and outside our known reality.

The Aborigines created walkabouts as a rite of passage. When tribe members reached a certain age, they left the tribe to journey alone into the wilderness, and to embark upon a sacred quest into the unknown to learn about themselves, and to learn about spirit, and to bring that knowledge back to the tribe, so that they could all learn and evolve. While the Aboriginal walkabout can last as long as six months, the modern-day shamanic version isn’t nearly as demanding, but it is absolutely just as powerful.

When you’re doing a walkabout, you are consciously making choices and engaging behaviors that run contrary to how you would normally operate. This extends to the little things—like taking an alternate route to work, or brushing your teeth with your nondominant hand, or wearing color when you (think you) favor a more neutral palette. It means going somewhere you never thought you would go, or dining alone, when you’ve only ever been out with other people.

The walkabout also includes bigger things, like attending a ceremony at a place of worship that’s unfamiliar to you, or traveling to another country where you don’t know the language, or dating someone whose genitals you’re pretty sure you’re not into.

I have a friend who identifies as straight and has always identified as straight. This friend happens to be someone who has done his fair share of stepping into the unknown, which means that he is in the habit of challenging his own beliefs, and challenging his identity structures. And at some point in his evolutionary process, my friend realized that he needed to have the experience of being intimate with a man if he was to be certain that he truly was straight, and so that he could get a deeper understanding of what it even meant to be straight. And so my friend had sex with a man. It blew his brain open and completely transformed his perspective on male sexuality in a really profound way, even though: P.S. He still identifies as straight.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you go have sex with whomever doesn’t fit the gender preference you identify with. The friend I mentioned is an extreme seeker. Just because that was an aligned choice for him doesn’t mean that it is an aligned choice for everyone. But what I am suggesting is that you let go of whatever rigid belief systems you are holding on to that have you convinced that something is right, or that something is wrong, as according to whatever you’ve been taught and programmed, and that you go on a walkabout, and figure that shit out for yourself.

Be sure to keep a journal when you’re doing your walkabouts. Write down how you felt, and what came up for you while you were venturing into the unknown. And, if you’re at a loss as to where to start, ask yourself what’s the one thing you’ve always wanted to do that you never thought you would have the courage to do. Now, go do that thing.

EXPAND THE SOCIAL SITCH

Our connections with others are based on similarity and familiarity. Sociology tells us that human beings gravitate toward those who look most like them. We are drawn to people who dress the way we do, and who vote the way we do, and who were raised the way we were raised, and who like the things we like, and who don’t like the things we don’t like. Our connection to other people is based upon what we deem comfortable, based upon that which we already know.

Most people go to parties, and instead of connecting with the people they haven’t met before, they rush to find the friends they already know, and then they spend their entire time huddled in these clusters and these cliques, recycling conversations they’ve already had about stuff they already know. It’s such a wasted opportunity, because they have no idea what kind of connections they are missing out on, or what sort of information might be wanting to come through a conversation with a stranger, or how many doors are just waiting to open for them if they would only step outside their comfort zone and connect with someone unfamiliar.

Our collective social insecurity is one of the reasons we have so much conflict on our planet right now. People are not connecting in the realm of the unknown, with an authentic desire to experience something different, or with a willingness to learn something new. People are connecting from box mentality, and from the resistance field, which means their connections are driven by their desire to feel safe, and their devotion to maintaining the status quo. They are only open to relating to that which confirms what they already know and are comfortable with. They are programmed to think that anything that is unfamiliar, and anything that does not mirror their own identity construct, is a threat, which keeps them from opening themselves up to connections that will bring new data, and new information, and new possibilities into their lives.

Science tells us that the more diversity there is among the people we socialize and connect with, the more intelligent we become—as in actual IQ points. Plus, we live longer when we engage with a variety of different kinds of people. Not to mention how much more colorful and expansive those longer lives shape themselves to be when they are enriched by diversity of thought, and belief, and perspective, and expression. This means that when we avoid connecting with people we don’t perceive to be like us (because we are afraid to think, or live, or explore, or consider beyond the constructs of our programming), we are literally capping our intelligence and our life spans, while limiting ourselves to status quo conversations, and status quo parties, and status quo existences. Why do we even bother coming to this planet if that’s how we’re gonna roll? I mean, really.…

This fear of other social groups is keeping our species stagnant, and isolated, while limiting our evolution in a big way. The only way to become a well-rounded individual is to open oneself up to a wide variety of possibilities, and a wide variety of inputs. If we are willing to open ourselves only to that which we already know, and that which we judge as safe based on our indoctrination and our limited exposure, then we are confining ourselves to fear-based lives, and we are cutting ourselves off from the quantum field of experience, and we are missing out on the opportunities that would allow us to expand into realms of higher intelligence, and elevation, and consciousness.

RACISM, BIGOTRY, AND INTOLERANCE, OH MY

A racist person doesn’t actually hate the culture they position themselves against. They just don’t understand it. Rarely is intolerance for other races, cultures, or belief systems based in any thoughtful, critical opposition to said races, cultures, or belief systems. It’s based in ignorance, and it’s based in fear. Most people who claim they hate another group of people haven’t actually had the experience of stepping outside their comfort zones, and engaging the people they say they don’t like from a place of openness or genuine curiosity. People who are intolerant of other groups of people are not open to new thoughts, or new ideas, or new beliefs or new cultures, because those things all exist outside of their comfort zones, and outside of what they already know, and therefore those things threaten the safety and the same, same, same of their status quo. So instead of taking responsibility for their shrunken, limited lives, and the stark, barren corners they’ve painted themselves into, they project their fear, and their boredom, and their disappointment in themselves onto those they deem different, and then they create stories to justify the intolerance they’ve made up in their heads, and the negative stereotypes the matrix has programmed them to buy into.

Spirit Hack: Burst Your Social Bubble

The next time you find yourself at a social gathering, challenge yourself to connect with someone who appears to be unlike you, and who you can’t imagine having anything in common with. Don’t just introduce yourself and then rush to get away so you can check it off your spiritual to-do list. Really connect. Engage that person from a place of genuine curiosity, with the intention of making an authentic connection, and opening yourself to something new, and seeing where your courage leads you.

The way you do this is to see each person as their own planet. When you connect with that person, engage them with the understanding that you are not there to change them, and you are not there to impose your views upon them, and you are not there to tell them that they are right, or that they are wrong. You are there only to observe, and to ask questions, and to find out how their world looks, and works, and operates, and what their point of view is. When we let go of our judgments, we realize that the understanding of true tribe, and true community and true connection is found in our willingness to be open to other people’s observations, and beliefs, and ideas about life.

Some things you can ask include:

What inspires you?

How do you feel about ________?

What are your thoughts upon ________?

What motivates you?

Where would you like to create change, and why?

What’s wonderful in your world?

Never ask yes or no questions when creating new connections with people. Instead, engage them as though you are a journalist, researching a story about this amazing person, excited to learn as much as you can about them from an objective point of view by asking inviting, open-ended questions.

THE GREAT ADVERTISERS

When you take responsibility for your own junkery, and you claim your power in the unknown, you become one of what I call the great advertisers. The great advertisers promote light consciousness and spiritual awakening wherever we go by demonstrating what is possible when we stop running from the monster under the bed, and we face it. The great advertisers do not need to look for monsters among us, or to persecute others for their choices or their beliefs, nor do they need to project their own ills, or the world’s ills, onto anyone else, because the great advertisers are taking responsibility for their own ills, and realigning the planet in the process.

Remember, tribe, we do not create change by fighting for it, or by imposing it, or by telling others that they need to get cracking on it. We create change by choosing to be that change, and by modeling that change, and by inspiring others to follow in our footsteps, because we’re that lit, and because we’re having that much fun.