I was intrigued by the various profiles that Troy channeled in early January. They were on a par with other things that Michael has said about politicians, i.e., most are solidly stuck in the 3rd Internal Monad. It wasn’t surprising to me that the two who seemed the most mature in their outlooks, Huntsman and Paul, were well along in their 4th IM. They really resonate differently. This may be why Romney is struggling to capture the nomination, even though he’s considered to be the frontrunner. It must be tough to be a Warrior-casted King having to vie for popular support, rather than just receiving his “due.”

Today, I came across a fascinating article by Chris Mooney, “Want to Understand Republicans? First Understand Evolution.” While I’m going to quote it, I strongly recommend a full read. And, I think it’s very valid in Michael terms on the differences between various Soul Ages and the inherent outlooks that each exhibit. Based on may different studies, he’s come to the conclusion that there is an evolutionary difference between liberals and conservatives, which in turn frames two substantially different realities. He posits, “. . .conservatism is largely a defensive ideology — and therefore, much more appealing to people who go through life sensitive and highly attuned to aversive or threatening aspects of their environments. By contrast, liberalism can be thought of as an exploratory ideology — much more appealing to people who go through life trying things out and seeking the new.”

Anyone who has read various statements from conservatives can quickly see how fear-based it is. They fear the future and want to return to yesteryear, those halcyon days that never were. And, it’s not that liberals aren’t fear-based, but they are seeking changes that might be solutions to long-standing problems. However, it’s useful to remember that the bigger population is somewhere in the middle — centrist, moderate, independent, or even a-political.

By and large, the people who show up for primary caucuses or elections are the most dedicated to a candidate. There are far more who will vote in the General Election in November than will during the preliminaries. For example, McCain garnered 9.8 million total primary votes, but received 59.9 million during the general. Conversely, the combination of Obama and Clinton primary votes equaled somewhat less than half of the plurality of the general election. It will be interesting to see whether or not the Republican primaries will boost their voter count; however, so far, they’re running lower or on a par with previous totals.

Meanwhile, watching Romney is similar to watching a contortionist. In order to win the Republican nomination, he must appear as a conservative, but to win the General, he must appear as a moderate. Obama may not be wildly popular right now, but his appeal will resurrect once he goes head-to-head with the Republican nominee, and he already holds the centrist position.

Meanwhile, Mooney’s closing argument will bear watching:

For now, I’ll leave it to others to speculate on the root causes of these differences. But whatever those may be, the perceptual gap between left and right certainly seems less than “adaptive” at the present moment. It may be the fault of biology that we’re now misfiring so very badly — clashing in ways that, as with the debt ceiling fiasco, could have gravely harmed everybody in America, regardless of their particular ideology.

The Nebraska-Lincoln scientists interpret their results as a powerful argument in favor of greater political tolerance and understanding — and I agree with them. Politics isn’t war, and it isn’t zero sum. It requires negotiation and compromise. Surely our public debates should be guided by something more than threat responses and fight-or-flight.

So how do we get beyond our political biology? Well, the implication for liberals seems obvious: If they want to fare better politically, they need to learn to go against their instincts and stay focused and committed.

And the lesson for conservatives? Well, here it is tougher. You see, first we’d have to get them to accept something they often view as aversive and threatening: The theory of evolution.

Personally, I’ve found the Michael Teachings to be more concerned with emotional and spiritual ideas than about physical ones. We’re always dancing along the outer edge of Personality development and Essence evolution. So, while we discuss things such as Body Types, chakras, being Moving centered, etc., the focus is usually about our conscious ability to choose. Most of the profiles for older souls seem to have Moving centered as a trapped part, rather than Intellectual or Emotional.  Even though we’re well aware that we’re in a solid 3D physical form, we don’t tend to give a lot of emphasis to the very real biological chemical factory that IS our body, except when diet or health is being discussed.

Three of the Internal Monads are undergone through a time of intense physical change, the first 20 or so years of one’s life. These are far more than conscious rites of passage — the change from infant to toddler is profound, as are the years that eventually culminate in adolescence and then adulthood. It’s long been said that the only bone that doesn’t change size from birth is the eardrum. Every other body part is a cellular explosion of change, even without any particular weight gain issues. Every adult who has ever held a newborn baby marvels at just how small we start off — normal birth weight is between 6 and 8 pounds. The average adult brain weighs 3 pounds, or nearly half of total birth weight. All of my children were about 20 inches when born and are all now 63 to 66 inches tall — none are considered “tall.”

When Michael describes the 3rd Internal Monad, they are mostly describing psychological changes, rather than physical ones; however, they do say, “This is the adjustment of the body and Personality in relation to the Moving Center, or Power Chakra.” Also, they mention a physiological impact in the 7 Levels of the 3rd Internal Monad, “In fact, until the hormonal washes of the 3rd Internal Monad are completed, not even the brain is capable of comprehending the impact and power of Choice.”

Yet, based on scientific evidence, a great deal of engine that drives the behaviors of an adolescent are physiological changes. A good overview is found in the “Five Reasons Teenagers Act the Way They Do:”

1. Risk Taking
All teenagers take stupid risks that they one day look back on and wonder what the heck they were thinking. But studies have found it is not because teens aren’t thinking about the risks involved—it’s because they think about them longer than adults.

Yes, that’s counter-intuitive. But think of it like this: If you are on a diet and see a piece of yummy chocolate cake, are you more likely to eat it if you just glance at it, remember you are trying to eat healthy, and walk away, or if you sit there and mull over the pros and cons of eating it? The latter, obviously.

It’s the same with the teen brain. Our brains take a lot longer to fully form than was previously thought. In teens, the frontal lobe (where our decision making happens) is not as connected to the rest of the brain as it is later in life. This means teens literally cannot come to a decision as fast as an adult. Teens take an average of 170 milliseconds longer to go over the consequences of a decision, which in turn makes them more likely to decide the risk is worth it.

2. Giving in to Peer Pressure
Adding friends to the mix makes it even harder for teens to avoid taking risks. Adults wonder why their kids’ friends can influence them so much. That’s because once you are an adult, your brain has quite literally grown out of it.

One study using MRI scans on adults and teens showed that their brains reacted very differently to the presence of friends when making a decision. It found that teens who would not take risks when alone or with an adult were far more likely to take risks when their friends were watching. The scans showed that the reward center of the teen brain became much more active in the company of their peers. In college students and adults, however, the reward center’s activity remained at a constant level no matter who was watching.

This means that teens, when spending that tiny bit of extra time deciding what choice to make, are also fighting against the overwhelming internal drive that tells us to do things that feel good. As the brain develops in adulthood, however, that connection ends and we end up getting no extra good feeling from taking risks in front of our friends.

3. Lack of Concentration
While teens may look more like adults than kids, to a neuroscientist their brains resemble a child’s. That’s part of the reason teens suddenly start acting like toddlers again around age 14. While their bodies are aging, their brain is rearranging itself in a way that temporarily makes it act the same way it did when they were younger.

When scientists looked at how teenagers’ brains functioned while they were distracted during an assigned task, they found a large amount of activity in that darn frontal lobe again, far more than they would in an adult. Teens have too much active grey matter in that area, something that decreases as we get older. This means their brain is trying to take in and process everything going on around it, literally overloading them. The more streamlined adult brain works more efficiently, making concentrating on one thing much easier.

But if you are in your twenties and have been feeling cocky up until this point, it’s important to note that this chaotic brain makeup doesn’t completely settle down until your early thirties.

4. Overly Emotional
If teens seem to not care about other people’s feelings or seem to flip out over nothing, it might not be because they are drama queens. Studies have found that teens have a much harder time correctly interpreting vocal inflection and facial expressions from other people, and so they sometimes react irrationally to emotional situations.

One study showed teens and adults pictures like this: 

What emotion do you think that woman is feeling? If you’re not a teenager you probably answered fear, just like every single adult in the study did. But while some teens identified fear, 50% of them saw anger, or even shock. All of the participants were hooked up to MRI machines while they looked at these images, and an analysis of the scans showed that adults and teens used two completely different parts of their brains to come to a decision on what emotions the people were feeling.

The teens were using a part of the brain called the amygdala, which largely controls emotions, while the most active part of the adult brain was the part controlling logic and reason. That means that if you are expressing an emotion—say, disappointment—a teen’s brain has a 50% chance of misinterpreting it as a different emotion, like anger. Then, since the emotional part of their brain is already active from making that (incorrect) judgment, they become more likely to react irrationally and over the top.

5. Getting Dumber
Parents of teens often wonder what happened to the bright child they used to have. How can someone go from getting A’s to getting C’s when they seem to be doing the same amount of work? Once again, changes in the brain are to blame. While the merits of IQ tests are debatable, scientists used to think IQ stayed the same over one’s lifetime. Now it turns out that number can fluctuate widely in adolescence.

All the extra grey matter we talked about starts to die off as you get older. When you are young, that grey stuff has lots of extra synapses that help your brain store and process information. But as you age, your brain starts killing off the bits that don’t get used as often. Scientists used to think there was only one major “surge” of synapse “pruning” when we were children, but brain scans of teens have shown that one just as large happens at the beginning of adolescence.

This makes sense biologically; why should your brain waste energy remembering things that aren’t very necessary to your day to day life? It’s one of the reasons that younger children can learn a second language much faster than adults; they have more synapses to store that information. And if they keep speaking that second language often enough, they will remember it the rest of their lives.

But if there is a subject they didn’t concentrate so hard on, like math, suddenly they start forgetting things they used to know because the brain is deleting that information.

I found each of those points to be quite illuminating. Although, I didn’t interpret the picture as “fear.” There were too many mixed messages in the picture, and I was more apt to ascribe the look to bewilderment or my reaction was “Get off those drugs NOW!” I also enjoyed the fact that this article didn’t even use the word “hormones” a single time.

I also think that if someone hasn’t finished their 2nd Internal Monad in positive poles, their teen years are going to be even more chaotic as they stay in negative poles and maybe careen off into VERY negative poles. For example, the 1st Stage, Initiation, has a negative pole of rebellion. While all will experience some degree of rebellion in order to start pulling away from “home and hearth” towards independence, some will make it a lifestyle that profoundly impacts them for years. Many who end up on the wrong side of the law go into a pattern of recidivism that doesn’t seem to break until 4th IM kicks in as a physical rite of passage.

I’d like to get more channeling on the 3rd Internal Monad from a physiological perspective — the Moving Centered part of it.

I’ve spent my evening going through a series of TED videos on YouTube on various talks he’s given at conferences over several years.

 Hans Rosling: No more boring data: TEDTalks

Hans Rosling on global population growth

Hans Rosling: Asia’s rise — how and when

Hans Rosling: New insights on poverty and life around the world

Hans Rosling on HIV: New facts and stunning data visuals

Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine

All are worth watching and vary from 10 to 20 minutes. He’s a statistician who has created software to animate and make statistics interesting and understandable to anyone. But, most importantly, he’s taken historical publicly available data and made it relevant about a world that is changing far more rapidly than any of us have kept pace with. It altered my belief systems about population, income, health, and life expectancy — changes that have been occurring over the past 150 years, but most especially since 1960.

I’ve not been able to validate Michael’s reiterations about the world moving into a Mature Soul Age as I’ve been hung up in old data, old images, and paradigms about East versus West or to use the language of the past 50 years — developed versus undeveloped nations. Rosling admits that he started from the same place, but it was through statistics about what has really been happening that changed his worldview.  If you only watch one of the videos, start with the first one. His data proves that almost none of the political rhetoric that we’ve been employing is valid.

Birth rates have been radically dropping since 1960, even though there has been population growth overall. They have been dropping worldwide in all places, except for most of Africa. Child survival rates have increased dramatically — in fact, he’s drawing the correlation that birth rates are tied to survival rates. He believes that trends are well in place throughout most of the world for rising income, rising survival rates, increased longevity, to actually achieve maximum population of about 9 billion people, then universal stable birth/survival rates, and then declining population at about 2048.

It’s easy for us to focus on places such as Afghanistan, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Haiti to draw a worldview of ALL backward and poverty-ridden countries and assume that this is true for all but the “West.” Watch the video on Asia’s rise to get a better understanding of huge changes that have been underway since 1947.

Michael students have a tendency to gloss over the importance of younger soul ages and just how much vitality they can have. Let’s face it, we tend to be Soul Age snobs. Another thing we tend to gloss over is the fact that Young Souls progressively move past rigid ideologies. They become highly competitive, independent, and willing to explore beyond the boundaries of tradition. They are movers and shakers. Mature souls may become more community and relationship oriented, but they keep a lot of the paradigms that drive Young Souls, but with more “heart.”

The world is not as backwards and poverty-riddled as it once was. Change has been occurring, and it’s been occurring far more rapidly than anyone has realized. I can now see that it’s quite possible that we are moving into a Mature Soul world that will continue to evolve. It simply won’t be based on old data and belief systems.

The factories and working conditions of the Industrial Revolution throughout Europe and the U.S. became more regulated, labor laws were enacted, and environmental protections were implemented to clean up dead rivers, toxic dumpsites, and contaminated water supplies during the 20th C. Recycling has become part of our consciousness in many cities and towns. Yet, rampant consumerism has not slowed any of these issues, they’ve been exacerbated.

For example, most who can read this have owned multiple computers during the past 20 years. Most who have bought 2G, 3G, and now 4G mobile phones have owned more than one model for each generation. Most who have bought various gaming devices have owned more than one model as new features were released. Most who have had a television during the same period of time have owned several, with at least one of them simply being an upgrade to a newer and better model.  I would hazard a guess that at least half of all of these secondary purchases were due to needing to “upgrade,” rather than the original piece of equipment being totally non-usable and defunct.

Why am I focusing on electronics? Because they are one of the biggest sources of manufacturing and consumer-generated toxic waste. As Greenpeace says so succinctly: “Electronic devices are a complex mixture of several hundred materials. A mobile phone, for example, contains 500 to 1000 components. Many of these contain toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium and hazardous chemicals, such as brominated flame retardants. Polluting PVC plastic is also frequently used.” Read the Greenpeace Briefing on the heavy metals and chemicals used in making electronics. Here’s a good chart on E-Waste.

Quoted in the Wikipedia article, “Electronic Waste,” which definitely has had “industry” input to mitigate its harshness, “According to a report by UNEP titled, “Recycling – from E-Waste to Resources,” the amount of e-waste being produced – including mobile phones and computers – could rise by as much as 500 percent over the next decade in some countries, such as India. The United States is the world leader in producing electronic waste, tossing away about 3 million tons each year. China already produces about 2.3 million tons (2010 estimate) domestically, second only to the United States. And, despite having banned e-waste imports, China remains a major e-waste dumping ground for developed countries.”

If one wants to think in terms of global politics, think Afghanistan. In 2010, the Pentagon said, “Afghanistan has significant deposits of copper, iron ore, niobium, cobalt, gold, molybdenum, silver and aluminum as well as sources of fluorspar, beryllium and lithium, among others, a task force studying the country’s resources found.” Oil is not the only mineral that drives the world economy.

One has only to do a brief Google search to discover the vast issue of hazardous waste, toxic dumpsites, etc., located throughout the world. No country has been immune. This is becoming our true legacy to our children, grandchildren, and generations into the 2100s. Consumerism drives the engine for most of it. And, we all consume.

It’s worth remembering that the ensoulment of the Cetaceans was due to that Sentient Design’s Grand Cycle making its own home world uninhabitable due to industrial waste and misuse of the environment. I’m sure there are many who would have preferred to remain on their home world and to have had the opportunity to finish out their Cycle as planned. According to Michael, that species was not unique.

It’s worth remembering that since we believe that we will be incarnating again and again, it is truly the legacy to ourselves. This is the world we are creating that we will be living in. Personal responsibility will come full circle. It’s not just our children and our children’s children who will inherit this environmental mess, it is us. Not all karma is tit-for-tat balancing from Essence to Essence. Some of it is our legacies to ourselves. We are creating one especially onerous reality.

Some of this is the deep winter blahs. We’ve been mostly below 0-F for over a month now–day and night. Even though we’ve been getting more sunshine recently, that’s still a relative concept as it contains no warmth, nor does it linger long to shine through my window. Wind returns for several days at a time — today and tomorrow, it’ll be blowing gustily at about 35 mph with wind chills down around minus 35. The two feet of snow is gone from the parking garage roof immediately outside my window, stripped away by the wind and sent elsewhere. Someone is getting some huge drifts. I keep waiting for the return to “normal” temperatures of 10s and 20s. Part of the blahs is the extreme isolation it imposes. Errands are miserable events, and I can’t even keep my door cracked to outside. I’m cocooned inside.

I’ve been forced to become more news-oriented, which never is an uplifting event, especially during extreme political times. Normally, I avoid the rancor and posturing as little of it seems real. As politicians attempt to find resonance with voters, they manufacture issues, while avoiding anything of substance. So much is overstated, misstated, or glorified into far more than it warrants. 24-Hour media repeats and repeats, trying to find kernels of “something” to talk about just to avoid empty air only to become empty air. There is more speculation than bona fide news. 30-Second soundbites get dissected as though they are major 2-hour policy statements.

I watched the 2nd South Carolina Republican Debate between the remaining four candidates last night. It was more entertaining than I expected it would be. Also, I was in full Discrimination and Observation; so, I was disengaged in terms of allowing the rhetoric get to me. I’ve noticed that this has become far more prevalent during the past couple of years. It’s as though I’m watching actors deliver their well-rehearsed lines, which in a sense that is exactly what they are doing. All candidates spend enormous time preparing for debates, and aren’t really delivering very much that is extemporaneous.

I found myself actually liking and appreciating two candidates whom I traditionally would totally dismiss: Santorum and Gingrich. Both were articulate and passionate, i.e., they didn’t drool on themselves. I honestly believe that Santorum, while quite pre-packaged, really believes what he says from his Baby-souled perspective. I don’t have to agree with him to understand that he’s got integrity within his belief systems. And, in fact, I find it hard to believe that he’s stuck in his 2nd IM. There is an honest sincerity about him; so, what is his true Achilles heel? Similarly, Gingrich presents himself well, but we know his personal history — it’s not surprising to know that he’s stuck way back in Stage 1 of the 3rd IM. This man has issues.  As for Romney, he’s the true representative of the last gasp of the Young soul-age.

As for the chronic anti-Obama din, I think that once Obama starts his campaign, that he’ll be able to prove that he’s accomplished more than most people know and that he’ll come across as the only adult in the room. Andrew Sullivan did a great recap on Obama, “Obama’s Long Game,” and it’s well worth a read in order to put Obama back into perspective. The constant trashing is mostly egos attempting to get elected, rather than based on substance. It will be interesting to see if the “Mature Soul Age” is actually upon us or not. Obama is the only representative of the older soul perspectives.

Meanwhile, I’ve got to find something else to occupy my mind online than politics. It’s a wasteland.

As an Old Soul, I’m fairly typical in that none of my Personality Overleaves are quite as “carved in stone” as when I was going through younger soul ages — each primary slides to a secondary, usually as a more positive pole than negative expression of it. Sliding allows one more flexibility and balance as one matures throughout life. But, ANY of the traits can show up to be highly limiting on special occasions, and any can become habitual patterns, especially in one’s public persona as the fears that drive ego don’t always need a special occasion.

For example, my profile:

Role: Sage  – (- Oration / + Expression)

Casting: Sage — the same

Goal — Discrimination (= Rejection / + Sophistication)

Negative Traits: Argumentative, Creates unnecessary problems, Doubting Thomas, Lack of trust, Makes things difficult, Overly exacting, Picks things apart, Suspicious of everything

Positive Traits: Connoisseur, Discerning, Perfectionist, Refinement, Sophistication, Well-Reasoned, Worldly

Sliding to Flow (- Inertia / + Suspension)

Negative Traits: Aimless, Couch Potato, Drifter, Finds the Easy Way Out, Inert, Lazy, Lethargic, Phlegmatic, Purposeless, Sluggish, Stagnant, Struggling, Stuck, Uncommitted, Uninvolved

Positive Traits: Doesn’t Make Waves, Easy-going, Free-flowing, Fun-loving, Goes with the Flow, Laid-back, Middle of the Road, Prone to Good Fortune, Relaxed, Rested, Trusts that Life Will Work Out, Unstressed

Mode: Observation (- Surveillance / +Clarity)

Negative Traits: Inactive, Not Minding Own Business, Removed, Scrutiny, Spying, Surveillance, Withholding Emotions

Positive Traits: Aware, Clarity, Detached, Insightful, Neutral Perspective, Observing, Sees Things Clearly, Spectator

Sliding to Passion (- Identification / + Self-Actualization)

Negative Traits: Boundary-less, Emotional Upheaval, Foggy Thinking, Identification, Invested, Irrational, Loss of Identity, Suffers Intensely

Positive Traits: Dramatic, Emotional, Enthusiastic, Intensely Alive, Involved, Lively, Open, Self-Actualized, Spontaneous

Attitude: Idealist (– Abstraction / + Coalescence)

Negative Traits: False expectations, Greatly disappointed, Out of touch with real world, Naive, Pie in the sky, Unrealistic outlook

Positive Traits: Ability to coalesce ideals, Cheerful, Optimistic, Finds new ways of doing things, Makes a positive mark in the world, Sees the bright side of life, Sees the world as how it “should” be

Sliding to Skeptic (– Suspicion / + Investigation)

Negative Traits: Argumentative, Creates unnecessary problems, Doubting Thomas, Lack of trust, Makes things difficult, Overly exacting, Picks things apart, Suspicious of everything

Positive Traits: Checks all the facts, Doesn’t accept things at face value, Finds unforeseen problems, Investigation, Nonjudgmental, Questioning, Really looks to see what’s there, Seeks knowledge

The more that I’ve attempted to validate my Overleaves, the more I’ve had to recognize when certain negative poles heavily influenced my behavior, especially during times of stress.  Discrimination’s rejection kicked into high gear whenever my Chief Features of Arrogance kicked in; Observation’s surveillance kicked in during similar times; disappointed Idealist tended to be the trigger to cause the rippling effect — disappointed naivete caused the entire house of cards to come tumbling down. The more I learned to slide into Skeptic and delay absolutism, the more the other traits stabilized.  This was an instinctive pattern over a lifetime, not just since I’ve been studying Michael.

However, I can see where my locked-in belief systems were individually limited by traits such as rejection — reject an idea if it clashed with beliefs. Move into suspicion and surveillance whenever my attitude slid into disappointment.  Underneath all of these negative poles, my Self-Karma to “always be right,” was a game of brinksmanship as that’s a twisted path in its own right. Delving into belief systems has taught me that I have held mutually exclusive beliefs that warred with one another. It’s rather difficult to be right when one has polar opposite “right” beliefs.

The 4th Internal Monad is far more than an ego trip of “I’m so special, I’ve completed the 4th IM in positive poles.” It’s the beginning of the rest of one’s life at examining everything for genuine truth and applicability. When a negative pole (or several) flare up into an incandescent fireball of reaction, it’s time to look deeper for the belief that’s under attack. Where is this limitation coming from? Why am I so resistant to change on this issue? Why can I espouse love for all and get so almighty pissed off at certain people?

The beginning to the answer will be found in the negative traits or poles of one’s profile. Those have attached themselves to beliefs that you may not even know you have.  There is a good chance the belief(s) is faulty. Working to bring the negative pole into a more expansive viewpoint is only part of the battle. Figuring out the limitation helps to create a doorway through the brickwall, too.

There are close ties emotionally with the Christian Doomsday prophecies that includes the “Rapture.” In fact, Rachele defines Ascension as “Known by many names, including ‘rapture’ and ‘harvest’, ascension involves two steps: (1) the translation from a third-dimensional dense body to a lighter fourth-dimensional body; and (2) the transfiguration of the fourth-dimensional body to a fifth-dimensional body of light. There are actually two kinds of ascension: spiritual ascension and physical ascension. Spiritual ascension involves the liberation of the soul through dropping the physical body. Any soul who has progressed sufficiently in awareness and understanding can go through spiritual ascension. The simplified equivalent to this is ‘going to Heaven after you die.’”

What has Michael said?  Back in 2009, he was asked about Melchizedek and Ascended Masters and said the following, which includes information about templates on the Astral:

[Excerpt from TT: 2009-11-09]

[Question] Will Michael please comment on Drunvalo Melchizedek’s claims and the flower of life seminar about mass ascension into Christ Consciousness around 2012?

[Michael Entity] We see this as yet another fantastical, yet attractive, interpretation of a rather insignificant, non-event for the sake of emotional and material capitalization. We say this as a matter of basic fact, and not to cast a negative light on such things. It is quite satisfying to many to have an imaginary end-point toward which to focus personal evolution, and 2012 has been co-opted, interpreted, and hung out as a banner of warning or hope by nearly every angle of spirituality. Simple questioning and investigation can often clarify these ominous predictions to show that there is no validity, so when one is quite willing to “play along” with these scenarios, one has determined that there is some kind of value in that game, or at the very least, a resonance to internal fears that are in need of addressing.

As long as calendars exist along with Young and Mature Souls within a population, there will be impending doomsday dates to impose dramatic descriptions for undramatic shifts.

[Question] Does that mean “ascended masters” did not create a Christ Consciousness grid around the earth and that there will not be a group “awakening”?

[Michael Entity] We would not be so conclusive as to say “no,” but we will say that this interpretation and imagery is rather embellished. Some fragments find theatrical imagery appealing, and the personifications help some to open to support from non-physical guides.

From many mythologies, templates are generated from the imagery and then fragments can use those to attract and funnel legitimate support, with entities and fragments playing the role offered by the template.

For instance, there is no “Zeus,” or “Goddess” per se, but one can use that template as a funnel for Astral fragments and entities to work through. The “ascended masters” are another network of templates that are used by multiple Astral fragments and entities. “Archangel Michael,” for example, is not the same source for every group who works with that template.

These templates act as accessible, larger-than-life roles within a fragment’s life that helps one to connect or resonate to support and forces beyond the immediately-tangible. Even the Judeo-Christian “God” is merely a mythological template. We, ourselves, used the template of “The Sun God” in the Oracles of Delphi as a means to work with our students at the time. Once personification is involved with a non-physical teacher, or source, a template is born and up for grabs for people to use as a medium of contact with entities willing to play the role described by that template.

In some cases, that template is used as a means for housing the divided elements of the incarnated person attracted to it. For example, our own name has become a template, and some who claim to channel us simply use that template to deliver their own messages and ideas in the hopes of validating their own perceptions, sense of value, while securing an audience and using the built-in credentials.

[Question] Speaking of fantastical, yet attractive new aged teachings, does Michael consider A Course in Miracles to be a creation for the purpose of emotion and material capitalization?

[Michael Entity] We will say that there is personally-valuable information within Drunvalo Melchizedek’s and A Course in Miracle’s teachings, regardless of the validity of the information, and the use of highly-profitable marketing tactics. We merely responded with a random comment, as requested, and we do see the theatrics of 2012 to be purely for marketing, as that year has no significance in terms of any Mayan Calendar calculations.

[Question] In Michael’s observation/experience are the dramatic descriptions used for the polarity shifts and the earth wobble simply exaggerations for undramatic shifts?

[Michael Entity] Observations of potential, impending shifts, such as what has come to be known as “global warming,” or “earth wobble,” or “polarity shifts,” meteor impacts, shifts in mass consciousness, etc, are valid to some degree, however, these kinds of events are not on a schedule that can be marked in any way that is predictable at this point, and most of these are shifts that would take longer than any single lifetime.

We will add, though, that because of the amount of emphasis on 2012 by such a large mass of consciousness, we do see a high potential for “something” to be significant, though it would most likely be interpreted differently for different groups, depending on their view of reality.

Back in 2002, Michael was asked about the 4th Dimension:

[Excerpt from TT: 2002-11-21]

[essenses] Regarding the prophesies of the indigenous peoples that say as we come to the year 2012, time as we know it will shift. Are you aware of a shift that will occur that will be very different from life as we know it now, and if so what would the change look and feel like?

[M_Entity] There will always be shifts and that which is indicated by Mayans, or any other ancient or modern group, are no more or less as meaningful or meaningless as any other shift. Some groups have a calendar to point out the date, and still others are as vague as simply stating that “He will return.” We remind you that your most recent shift in consciousness globally came on September 11, 2001. Previous to this, it was in August of 1987.

These shifts in perception of Time or Space or spirit or matter are not rare, though they can be more or less subtle.

[essenses] Are we entering a “golden age,” 4th dimension less density?

[M_Entity] Probabilities do indicate a strong inclination for world peace and continuing explorations of compassion, if this is what you mean by “less density” and a “golden age.”

[essenses] Yes, I guess so as that is what the predictions say.

[M_Entity] It is a Mature Soul world, which could be interpreted as “4th dimensional,” if that is your terminology, as it is the 4th soul age.

In 2009, Michael was once again asked about 2012 prophecies and Ram Bahadur Bamjan in Nepal:

[Excerpt from TT: 2009-02-08]

[Tom] Hello Michael. My question is with regards to Ram bahadur Bamjan (AKA the “ buddha Boy” of Nepal) and the year 2012. He has been said to have meditated for months at a time within the jungles of Nepal without food or water. The media attention upon this boy caused him to leave the area saying he would return in six years (which amounts to his return in the year 2012). To my knowledge, he has only been seen a small handful of times since 2006 when he made this claim.

As usual, I have a handful of questions relevant to this matter. Is this someone that may be a Transcendental Soul or a fragment looking to “sign on” for Infinite Soul manifestation or maybe something much simpler ( for example: a boy being taken advantage of by someone else for money, fame, etc.) As a side note: does the 2012 date have any significance for an Infinite Soul manifestation (or anything else for that matter) or is this just another date folks point to as “apocalyptic” (like 2000) merely because it’s a common thing for humanity to count down to an apocalypse of one sort or another?

[Michael Entity] We know of the fragment about which you ask. The claims are exaggerated and misrepresented, but not maliciously. There are usually reasons for showcasing such things in certain cultures for the sake of continued inspirations and “hope.” Food and Water are provided, though those providing it under cover do consider the portions “not counting.” We would not describe the situation as one where the child is taken advantage of, but we also do not see much validity in the claims, at least on a physical plane level. In American culture you have tabloids that report on celebrities in a way that is parallel to the reports from within Nepal about this child. Most “news” is orchestrated, distorted, or exaggerated for effect, except in the case of the child in question, the effect is intended for inspiration, not entertainment.

As for 2012, we do not see it as having any more significance than any other year, especially since the calendar calculations are quite “off” in terms of the Mayan Calendar, but it will not be a year without elaborate events, particularly as the self-fulfilling prophecy is in high probability among many expecting (creating) events.

Your questions are more alike than separate, considering “2012″ could be said to be a global version of the child in question: a mysterious and unavailable, lending excitement, hope, anticipation, etc. Something to “look forward to.” There have been many “2012′s” even within your own lifetime, from planetary alignments to harmonic convergences to y2k’s, etc.

The difference with 2012, however, is that it appeals to ALL Soul Ages, not just one, so that the Baby’s project Rapture, the Young project disasters, the Old project elaborate metaphysical events, and all converge in a way that we see as unprecedented in recorded history.

I do not see how anyone could follow Michael and their Basic Teachings of Essence and Personality Overleaves, Soul Ages, Sentient Structure, karma, evolution through the Internal Monads, etc., and then accept any of the Ascensionists as being equally valid. This to me is the biggest point of “nothing in common.” I can accept the idea of various dimensions being equivalent at some level to the ideas of the 7 Planes or Spheres of Existence, but not as it’s currently being disseminated by the various Ascensionists. They’ve blurred the line between the 3D physical world that we experience and the higher spiritual realms, which do not include a physical body. If one repeats often enough some variant of “I am LOVE,” the physical body will ascend to a higher dimension that is akin to heaven, and apparently, one’s Essence (soul) will have cycled off, too.

As with most who have bought into the idea of “the Rapture,” few have considered just how selfish it is. If it were true, and if you removed the top 10% of the population, the most spiritually conscious people, what gets left? Who become the spiritual leaders? Who becomes the mentors? Who becomes the adults in a world run by children?  Talk about tough love! But, that’s an ethical dilemma left for another day.

My point is that students need to re-read the material on karma, on soul evolution through soul ages, incarnation, etc., as given by Michael. There is very little pinned-down specifics on those Ascensionist websites as they’re all about “this is it!” Anyone can play. There is little or no commonality between the material coming from Michael and the Ascensionists — one must choose. Some things are mutually exclusive.

I’ve mentioned my new project, going back to the beginnings of our current Sentient Design or Grand Cycle and then bringing it forward through the eons through one long arcing overview, based on my own history as an evolving Essence. It will include multiple timelines, where Essence fragmented off into parallels that will not merge until my Entity has been on the Causal for quite some time. My Essence/Entity isn’t unique. Michael has said that they’ve not fully integrated all of their own parallels as yet as some are still in progress. Only part of Michael’s Entity has cycled off and their Cadre cannot be fully reunited until all of the Entities and Essences within it have fully cycled off. But, that’s for another time and well beyond my pay grade to contemplate.

I’ve been having private sessions with Michael on the so-called 6 million year timeline for our species evolution for a couple of years. Every one has left me formulating more questions than giving me a “rigid” story that has yet to coalesce into a consistent picture of evolution. There has been conflicting answers. Each one has to be tracked down and clarified. Many of the answers do not jibe with current hard science beliefs, let alone with information coming through other non-Michael channels, Michael channels, or even Troy over a period of decades. The goal is to have one clear consistent story, regardless of whether or not it can be proven through any of the methods I have currently available to me.  It has to “make sense,” at least for a moment in time. Others will pick up wherever I leave off — perhaps, even my Essence in another time and place with another Michael channel or even another Entity and channel at some point in the future. I might even BE that channel.

It’s frustrating to keep bumping into the walls of rigid belief, especially when I wasn’t even aware that I held the beliefs, let alone any of the others who are involved. Maybe that will be the true work of the project — grappling with the limitations of belief that permeates all human endeavors. The project is the vehicle, the passion is dissolving limitations (see BrianW’s blog entry).

I’ve yet to meet a Michael student who proclaims, “I have a closed mind,” even those with a Chief Feature of Stubbornness (fear/limitation of change). In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who said that. I’ve even seen fundamentalist Bible absolutists who claim to have an “open mind.” Yet, have you ever successfully gotten someone to change their mind? It doesn’t happen all that often. This is the primary limitation of all belief systems — one holds them as being truth or factually based, and unless an overwhelming amount of new facts floods in, the original belief will stand. And, there is no guarantee that new facts will change an existing belief system as it’s locked into place through a series of interconnecting other beliefs. New facts in one belief won’t necessarily trigger a re-evaluation of secondary beliefs, especially if someone is unaware of their interconnectedness.

One way to look at belief systems is to view them as our own personal Personality Memory Library, our own version of the Akashic Records. Our memory includes everything that’s managed to be stored in memory, even if half-assed, bits and pieces, and/or one-sided experiences, as well as through our Instinctive Center. The data is poorly organized — it’s not all neat and tidy by topic, but seems to be parts of either bigger topics or “when” it occurred. It’s strewn across the spectrum of time. If you access an early life memory from childhood, it’s never been updated with more current experiences–it remains as it was from one’s perspective at that moment in time.

So, if we access a topic such as “Religion,” it can include bits and pieces of belief that were imprinted during infancy, all throughout one’s childhood, later explorations into comparative religions, and even other spiritual studies, etc. Many of the pieces won’t stand up and shout “Here I am!” They are simply part of the whole whenever accessed via some aspect of the topic. One can completely go through a deconversion process of disbelief from a religion, and yet still have far older loosely associated beliefs still at work. Many who come to the Michael Teachings from a Christian belief base have lingering faith in God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, prayer, Angels, and/or even Satan. Others who come to it from a different religion, such as Hinduism will hang onto some of those beliefs. How much Michael they will incorporate into their existing beliefs will only be as much as is comfortable — not the things that deny their base belief system.

Others might come from a broader “New Age” background, and it’s a non-stop attempt to try and mesh Michael into those other beliefs and/or no attempt at all. Most will give lip service to the idea of validation as to do otherwise puts them into the conflict of picking and choosing which resonates more, which ideas are mutually exclusive, etc. This shows up as issues on whether one is even willing to question Michael on certain topics, or read the transcripts. Questioning Michael can quickly turn into a slippery slope that puts one’s beliefs in jeopardy, and they won’t necessarily be the most obvious ones.

Personally, I have fewer problems letting go of some my earlier research into metaphysical topics as I never came to a full belief about most of them. I accepted reincarnation and karma. But, had little structured belief in how they worked; so, Michael has been eye-opening for me. I’ve had more problems letting go of the authority of Science and those in Academia–even when I know that there have been few theories that haven’t been overturned during the past 30 years, and which means that many that are now accepted will probably be overturned during the next 30 years, too. However, I’m willing to move past my limitations, one stubborn moment at a time as I discover them.

However, I do have to admit that the more I attempt to validate and confront belief-based limitations, the more I’m recognizing that little actual “truth” exists. What we know is so incomplete. Even what Michael knows is incomplete.  Our channels struggle to come up with common language for obscure concepts or information. Plus, they have their own points of belief systems blocking information. Channeling seems like a direct connection to the cosmic Library, but it’s still a very “soft” way of getting information with a lot of pitfalls or places for limits to stop the flow.

Limitations start with birth — dropping a spiritual fragment into a body. KerPlunk! Even if a newborn remembers its past lives, it’s confined to a body that doesn’t DO anything. It refuses to perform, other than basic alimentary functions. Paramahansa Yogananda in “Autobiography of a Yogi,” states in the opening chapter:

The helpless humiliations of infancy are not banished from my mind. I was resentfully conscious of not being able to walk or express myself freely. Prayerful surges arose within me as I realized my bodily impotence. My strong emotional life took silent form as words in many languages. Among the inward confusion of tongues, my ear gradually accustomed itself to the circumambient Bengali syllables of my people. The beguiling scope of an infant’s mind! adultly considered limited to toys and toes.

Psychological ferment and my unresponsive body brought me to many obstinate crying-spells. I recall the general family bewilderment at my distress. Happier memories, too, crowd in on me: my mother’s caresses, and my first attempts at lisping phrase and toddling step. These early triumphs, usually forgotten quickly, are yet a natural basis of self-confidence.

My far-reaching memories are not unique. Many yogis are known to have retained their self-consciousness without interruption by the dramatic transition to and from “life” and “death.” If man be solely a body, its loss indeed places the final period to identity. But if prophets down the millenniums spake with truth, man is essentially of incorporeal nature. The persistent core of human egoity is only temporarily allied with sense perception.

Although odd, clear memories of infancy are not extremely rare. During travels in numerous lands, I have listened to early recollections from the lips of veracious men and women.

I wonder how many infants whose bodies are contorted with anger are experiencing something similar? Something most forget as they age.

The next level of limitation kicks in due to imprinting. We are quite literally programmed, just like a computer, with thousands of rules, axioms, and homilies on how to behave. While we will eventually find some boundaries due to independent research (i.e., putting a bobby pin in an electrical outlet,) most are a a trickle of advice and warnings that becomes a flooded river by our teens. By the time we hit our 3rd Internal Monad, we’re well primed to be controlled by fears or limitations.

We learn “cannot” along with “should not,” and “must not,” as part of a long list of controllers on our thinking and behavior, along with their converses. It’s how we are socialized into both the family and the larger community. Meanwhile, we’re also picking up our parents’ frustrations and limitations as clues to how the world really functions. Family gossip tells and retells all of the cautionary tales of behaviors deemed acceptable and unacceptable, failures are recorded for posterity, misdeeds are exposed to mockery.

Another form of imprinting comes through various forms of “this is the way things are, and you can’t change them.” The limitations may be due to being born an Aries, being born a female, being born an Italian, being born poor, being born whatever. You will or won’t become something because it’s predetermined that you either don’t have what it takes or you must do it because you have a talent. There is little difference between being told that you’ll never become a doctor versus it being assumed that you will become one. Both reflect others’ impressions or choices about you, not YOUR choice.

It’s an ironic paradox that the first Internal Monad that has us creating an independent self through choice, is also the one where we choose our Chief Negative Features (CFs) — habitual patterns of limitations which will govern many of our behaviors for the remainder of most of our lives. The CFs are: Self-Deprecation, Arrogance, Self-Destruction, Green, Martyrdom, Impatience, and Stubbornness.  Each of these will act as ego-generated self-limiters.  Most of us will choose CFs based on at those things that have been either demonstrated by the family culture or things told to us repeatedly.

Self-Deprecation is based on the fear or self-limiter of “being inadequate.” It prevents many from even trying something new because of the inner self whispers, “Don’t bother, you’ll fail. You’re not good enough.” We aren’t the first to have said this — others have said it to us throughout our lives. It’s written deeply onto our psyche and self-esteem — a tattoo of limitation. It’s self-reinforcing whenever one asks the question, “What is wrong with me?” The answer will be that “they were right, I’m not enough.” Self-deprecation is rooted in fears related to inspiration. Servers are Self-Deprecation, manifest. The Server is rooted in emphasizing its own and all others’ inadequacies, or lack of being. This can be overt or subtle, but it will show.

Arrogance is based on the fear of self-limiter of being judged as being “too much.” Everything filters through comparisons. It’s core cause is a fear of being vulnerable. “Don’t let them see you sweat,” or “the best defense is a good offense.” It walls the person off from others, even themselves. Excelling drives the person, and if that doesn’t work, total failure is preferable to average. Failures can be explained by blaming others. The tattoo on one’s psyche is one of being “too much.” It limits because if one cannot excel, then one won’t even try. It also deeply limits how one perceives others and is able to work collaboratively. Priests are Arrogance manifest.

(Note: I don’t feel the article linked is especially accurate as it missed many of the more common behaviors of those with the CF — such as shyness, and an avoidance of anything that can turn humiliating — it’s more a biased perception of the author about arrogance in general. Not all arrogance is a CF.)

Michael gave statements to each of the attendees of the Open Michael Workshop, “What’s Wrong with Me?” Mine was:

[MEntity] To Geraldine – you have never been too much. You have always been just enough, even when the gifts of insight, judgment, feedback, voice were not appreciated or embraced. And they were gifts. And we know you know the difference between those innocent moments that were intended as gifts, and those that were not.

[MEntity] But even in those moments that were not intended as gifts, they were still gifts. Your voice is yours. It is your right. It always was, and will continue to be so, even if others have intentionally or unintentionally silenced you. It has meaning, power, and impact, and while you may have had to learn how to wield such a force with grace, it was always and remains to be laced with gifts, even on your worst days.

[MEntity] We can say to you without it being an empty comfort that you are important and meaningful. You are not forgotten. Every person within your discriminating circle of communication is permanently affected.

It’s apparent that arrogance has most especially affected me as a Sage-casted Sage on my ability to “speak my truth” over the years. But, that’s a tale for another time.

Self-Destruction is characterized by a level of self-loathing that is far beyond that of Self-Deprecation and is based on a fear or limitation of “losing control.” Self-destruction is rooted in fears related to expression. The artisan disconnected from Essence is Self-Destruction, manifest. They have determined that they are not worth what they want.

Greed is the fear or limitation of not having enough. Sages disconnected from Essence are Greed manifest, as they fixate on something they feel they do not have enough of, and remain struggling to attain this at the expense of life and self.

Martyrdom is a fear or limitation about the lack of control of space.  Situations are generated as a means to gain a sense of control over the life, and to force others into supporting this. It’s manipulation of everyone to try and control things that are well beyond one’s ability to control. Warriors who are disconnected from Essence are Martyrdom manifested and spends its life seeking approval and recognition, while consistently remaining in the shadows. They lay low, evade conflict, and depend on others heavily. The disconnected Warrior has a deep sense that at some point it needs to do or be something specific in order to be loved or recognized.

Impatience is the fear or limitation of no control over time. There will never be enough time to accomplish or finish anything — life rushes by, is scattered like autumn leaves on the first major storm of the season. Kings disconnected from Essence are Impatience manifested. Nothing is perfect enough.

Stubbornness is a fear or limitation on accepting change. Since life is nothing but change, this is a futile limitation. Scholars who are disconnected from Essence are manifested Stubbornness. All other CFs frequently slide into Stubbornness.

All of the negative poles of the Overleaves exhibit similar elements of limitations. This is why one description of moving from negative to positive poles is one of limits to one of limitless, from exclusive to inclusive. Examining our imprinting from the perspective of limits allows us to expand the thousands of things we take for granted as being “the way it is” to one of “what it could become.” Choice provides the mechanism for moving past limitations.

Every Design goes through the same evolutionary processes of beginning to end on the 7 Planes or Spheres of Existence, even if they do not experience it exactly the same. Not all species are the same on the physical plane: some are gaseous, some are wavelengths, some are lightwaves, some are tiny bacterium, some have bodies we would understand, some are planets. But, they all have a method of progressing through experience and choice in order to move through all of the Soul Ages. So far, in our brief foray into collecting our past Grand Cycles on TLE, we’ve discovered several sentient species who have been ensouled by more than one Design. As one Design finishes up, another Design takes over the species and continues the exploration. Each Design will have a substantially different overall experience as the species continues to evolve physically, just as an Infant Soul has a radically different experience being in a modern human body vs what we started with 6 million years ago.

Another way of viewing the “small to large” phenomenon is astronomically. Here’s a picture of things in our Universe from an earth-centric perspective:

At a certain point, the universe looks like a virus or a lifeform -- the Tao

If you want to see the larger, clearer version, go to the website.

We can sometimes visualize ourselves from the subatomic particle level, or have seen graphics of all of the components that make up our body in close-up, such as cells, or organelles, or DNA strands, or blood moving through our veins, etc. But, for the most part, we view ourselves as solids in our physical “real” world. I, personally, cannot fully imagine the distances between every single one of my atoms, or rather the fact that I am not truly a solid. I’ve seen enough science programs to accept that it is true, even though I cannot verify it for myself.

But the reason for this exercise is to move past some of the limitations or seeming absolutes that bog us down in our thinking. We’re not as solid as we think we are. We’re not as big as we think we are. We’re part of some very much bigger wholes, whether it be part of an Entity, a Cadre, or even the entire Sentient Design structure — or the physical universe as shown in the composite photo. This also means that I don’t have to accept all of the imprinting and belief systems that have developed over the eons, either. There is no “fire” god, nor does a sun god drive his chariot across the sky every day. But, still and all, Essence and Tao could still use my experiences.