Have a look at my new book on Critical Thinking

 

 My latest book 'Critical Thinking' is now available in ebook and print format on Amazon.com. Soon to be available on all digital platforms in ebook format and also on Takelot.com . This book is a must-have for all thinking and business people. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLKYG116

AMAZON.COM

Critical Thinking: A necessary super-power in today's world (The Essential Skills Series Book 2)

My latest talk at Lifeline

 

My next talk and workshop in Durban

 

new book on Takelot.com

 My counselling book is now available in South Africa on Takelot. 

Thanks to David at Myebook.online

https://lnkd.in/eA3fuV3w

 

My son David's publishing business. Highly recommended

As our name suggest, eBooks are our specialty. The conversion process involves our talented team 

#selfpublishing

My next talks and personal appearnace

 

My latest book on emotional wellness and counselling

 https://www.amazon.com/Comprehensive-Guide-Crisis-Counselling-intelligence-ebook/dp/B0BG64HVFJ/ref=sr_1_17?qid=1664030568&refinements=p_27%3AJimmy+Henderson&s=books&sr=1-17

Levels of consciousness

Levels of consciousness

Everything seems to point to the fact that the universe is geared towards growth and the expansion of our consciousness usually takes place naturally due to learning through trial and error and growth opportunities such as mentorship and formal training. However, this can take forever, or may never happen at all. As metaphysicians, we know that the process can be speeded up by conscious living

and metaphysical practices.

 

There is actually a continuum of consciousness, but I have identified a number of specific states or levels. Try and place yourself somewhere on this scale and this will give you an indication of how far you have to go, but do not be too concerned, as I will show you how to raise your consciousness quickly using metaphysical means.

 

Note

A raised consciousness can be a problem if you still have unresolved trauma, as it can increase your anxiety. So always deal with your past issues first. However, once you safely reach a high level of consciousness, the deeper insights you receive will reveal the real unimportance of past trauma and concerns and you will rise above them like an eagle flying above the storm, becoming free and authentic.

 

Instinctual consciousness

Let me take you back to the awakening of self-awareness as it took place over millions of years. From scientific evidence we can assume that our most primitive ancestors had not yet achieved self-awareness and acted purely on instinct. The brain structures of embryonic homo-sapiens had not developed the complexity to support language or to reflect on itself and become self-aware. At this point there was no real thinking and consciousness was probably limited to moments of crude realisation based on past visual associations. For instance, imagine a caveman being cornered by a sabre-tooth tiger and realising its association with death from his early learning experiences (having seen it kill others). This would give rise to an instinctual response of fear.

These drives and instincts of early man were necessary to his survival. They were built into his DNA. For example, greed would be a natural reaction to the need to hoard food for the winter and keep it safe from others. The battle for food was real. Aggression was needed to ward off wild animals and threats from others like himself. Sex was unfettered and necessarily so to build a family and a strong tribe for defence. An undeveloped brain was sufficient for basic living at that time.

These drives, so necessary to early man, still persist in our DNA to a degree, but are no longer acceptable in a modern society with our ethics and values, and so they now have to be tempered by our minds. However, we can regress to this animal-like state of consciousness during moments of blind rage, drug-induced behaviour and mental disorders such as psychopathy. This becomes a real problem for self-development.

Schematic consciousness

The next stage of the unfoldment of human consciousness would be linked to the development of those areas of the brain associated with self-realisation, language and thinking. This would bring with it, ‘self-awareness’, but with an ego-driven mentality, a schematic consciousness in which people think only in terms of themselves using habitual ‘programs’ built up from rigid beliefs. There would be no real independent or creative thought. In my previous book I spoke about these programs in terms of schemas. Sadly, even today, many people are still stuck at this level of consciousness, using well-worn slogans and rhetoric to voice their opinions instead of really thinking on the issue and not considering the far-reaching implications of their selfish or mindless actions.

Cognitive consciousness

The third stage of the development of consciousness would bring with it a cognitive consciousness, when, as the result of education and mental maturity, the human being begins to think less selfishly, more independently and is able to come up with creative and helpful ideas and discoveries. This level would be associated with those persons having a good understanding of themselves and their role and purpose in the world and a good sense of morality.

Hopefully, this would be most of us.

Intuitive consciousness

We then have the stage of intuitive consciousness, in which our pre-programmed thinking and reasoning give way to an innate realisation of natural universal principles which we use to explore and understand the mysteries of life and the universe. This can be likened to the study of philosophy and metaphysics. Apart from a deeper understanding, when this happens, we’re guided more by our conscience and reveal a more general attitude of love and benevolence towards all humanity, expressing the desire to help and be more compassionate. This consciousness would be typical of those engaged in selfless service to others. Unfortunately, many of us are still lagging behind and have not reached this intuitive stage.

Soul or Christ consciousness

This is the highest level of consciousness available to us as human beings. You could see this level as the unfoldment and expression of our souls. In other words, soul-realisation. It is not possible to stay at this level of consciousness for long periods as it puts us in the ‘zone’, so to speak, in which we lose contact with everyday reality and are not in a position to do tasks such as work and driving. As a result, this state is usually reserved for those moments of sublime connection during meditation. However, we can carry the effects of these moments of soul-connection into our everyday lives and live with less selfishness, more understanding and a willingness to serve all of mankind.

 

The so-called reptilian race amongst us

 

‘Reptilian-people’

 

I always first look for natural, scientific explanations to solving problems, and as a result, do not personally subscribe to the idea of a hostile, reptilian race living amongst us. I think that this is more likely a phenomenon resulting from the power of our minds to translate impressions into images (synesthesia).

 

What is happening here is that believers in this theory have their minds already primed for synesthesia and are thus very sensitive to incoming impressions. They then pick up the energy signatures of these persons in the form of energy cues such as sensations and impressions of negative personality traits such as aggression, cunning, a lack of conscience, selfishness and greed lying just below the surface, characteristics we normally associate with primitive minds and animals such as reptiles. They translate these sensations and feelings, using their existing schemas for animals and reptiles, into an image of the particular type of animal or reptile in their minds. Finally, they unconsciously superimpose this image on the face (or body) of the other person, believing it to be their normal sight.

 

This is also not just our imagination. Psychological research has shown that it is quite possible for us to superimpose imaginary pictures on our view of reality. There is also a well-known case study of a spectator calling a referee a clown and was convinced that he saw the referee’s uniform change into a clown suit. This is a real-life example of the process I just spoke about.

 

Remember that even with our normal sense of sight what we see is also only an image or view of reality formed in our minds from outside visual cues and we know from hallucinations that this can be influenced by other factors such as illness and drugs as well as our own imagination during psychosis. There is no reason why we should not be able to superimpose powerful, subconscious, imaginary images on reality.

Soul-connection workshop 21 May

 

New books

 Have a look at my new books which have been accepted on Takelot.com 

https://www.takealot.com/understanding-metaphysics-using-psychology-to-better-understand-/PLID70456941

 
https://www.takealot.com/dealing-with-trauma-an-introductory-guide-to-sharpen-your-practi/PLID68110972

 

 New video talk on advanced meditation and imagery

https://youtu.be/pOhUPw8mX4Q 

 My latest video talk 

The soul and soul unfoldment

An interview on my psycho-spiritual approach

 Interview

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CKioCrWgCzu/?igshid=154y3llyblab3

Working with your archetypes within the shadow self

 

Working with your Archetypes and the Shadow-Self

Dr. Jimmy Henderson

I think the shadow-self can be described in a number of ways by people who have different approaches to life, for example, you may well find other explanations for the shadow-self in science, religion or spiritualism. The approach I personally like to use in my books and articles is psycho-spirituality, in which I use psychology to try to explain what are essentially, metaphysical or spiritual truths.

Carl Jung and Archetypes

Regarding the shadow self, I usually begin with the important work of Carl Jung, the world-famous psychologist who spoke of a collective unconscious or collective subconscious, to which we are all said to be connected. Within this deep collective level of the subconscious mind, we find what he called universal, archetypal forms or patterns of energy.  

Personal versions of these archetypes can also be found within the human psyche. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the ‘inner child’ but may also have heard of the ‘victim’ archetype, the ‘nurturer’ or the ‘hero’. According to Jung, our personal archetypes can be explained as collections of unresolved or repressed energy from unpleasant past experiences, trauma or unresolved needs and desires which we have pushed deep into our subconscious minds.

For example, if, as a child, someone is prevented from fully expressing their childlike innocence and emotions, desires and urges, these unfulfilled emotions could come together and form a  sort of sub-personality we call the ‘inner child’, one which would (metaphorically) long to be loved, nurtured and be allowed to freely express its childlike joy.  We can touch this archetype of the inner child when we, as adults, do things that children love to do, such as riding on a roller coaster. This thrill can take us back to our childhood days and unlock the energy of our inner child for brief moments.  

However, there are many other archetypes that are not that pleasant to have. For example, the ‘victim’ archetype, which is a nasty fellow, a toxic accumulation of pain from the past, resentments and anger against certain people or even against the social system itself. There are also other not-so-pleasant archetypes as well, those revealing themselves in negative traits such as repressed rage and anger (the ‘Angry Man’) and the ‘Greedy Man/Woman’ archetype, which houses an intense desire for wealth and possessions. If not satisfied, we can end up with this repressed negative energy forming an archetype deep within our psyche.

How they work

When we start thinking about a situation or have an experience that makes us unlock these repressed negative emotions, we are actually ‘cueing’ our negative archetypes, which release their energy and we then reveal this unpleasant trait or side of us all over again. 

From my own studies and meditations, I found that archetypes (including negative ones) can cling to each other and even bring about more sub-archetypes, almost like a mother giving birth to a child.

 During a meditation I did many years ago, I was able to connect with my own archetypes and found out that a very powerful archetype, the ‘victim’ archetype, can give rise to smaller versions of itself, representing different character traits such as anger and resentment that go with the experience (or perception) of seeing oneself as a victim in a ‘grossly unfair world’. This accumulation of different archetypes is important.

The shadow-self

So how do we move from Carl Jung’s archetypes to the idea of a ‘Shadow-self’?

We now understand how different negative archetypes, as well as their ‘offspring’ can come together to form an interconnected system of negative archetypes which can take up a large part of our subconscious mind. I see the shadow-self as that collection or system of negative archetypes deep within our psyche, forming a large, but unseen part of our personalities.

The shadow self and self-development

We often read in self-development books or articles that we need to acknowledge our shadow self. Yes, we do need to accept that we've within us these unfulfilled archetypal patterns which form the shadow self. But that is only half the story. As I said, I've worked intensively with archetypes during my meditations and studies, and I've found that one can work with them, in fact, we can resolve and even transmute them into higher forms to release their pent-up energy to help our personal growth.

Connecting with your shadow-self

Let me explain how this works.

As I said earlier, in a manner of speaking, our archetypes are sub-personalities within our subconscious minds and during deep meditation we can connect with them.

This will have to happen during meditation, when our conscious minds are very relaxed, crystal-clear and fully open to impressions. We can either decide to connect with one archetype at a time, or deal with our shadow-selves as a whole. In any event, archetypes will appear in our imagery, one-at-a-time, as humanlike forms with visible characteristics which point to their type and inner content. For example, our inner child may appear as a small, disheveled, dirty child huddling in a corner, suggesting that it has been neglected. We need to interpret what we see metaphorically, as our subconscious minds communicate with us mostly in symbolic images, such as during dreams.

Communicating with each archetype forming the shadow-self

We pick up the impressions from these archetypal pockets of energy within our subconscious and form the humanlike images in our conscious minds.  As I said, we can actively engage them. They are almost like separate personalities. With the scene changing spontaneously, we will find that the archetype responds to us in some way or another. It’s actually quite amazing. We usually see their responses in gestures, movements or facial expressions, but if we are fortunate and familiar with inner work, we may even hear words popping intuitively popping into our minds.

The following process should be used with each archetype as it presents itself:

·         Acknowledge the archetype

 

               ‘I acknowledge you and I know that you are part of me.’

·         Give thanks (express gratitude)

Thank the archetype for its role in your life.  Remember that you created them for a reason, even if it is a negative archetype. 

                ‘I want to thank you for the work that you've done over the past years.’

As a counsellor I know that It is not easy to say ‘thank you’ for a devastating traumatic experience, but it is not the fault of the archetype, but our own choice in holding onto self-destructive emotions which have given rise to the archetype and indeed, our shadow-selves. In other words, balancing or resolving an archetype is the same as forgiving others and forgiving yourself.

·         Acknowledge the experience

By now, from memory or intuitively, you may start picking up on what has given rise to this archetype, something from your past that you have done or not done or simply had the misfortune to experience such as past trauma or even the ‘dark night of the soul.’ Once you have an idea of what may have given rise to this archetype, acknowledge their pain (which is actually your own pain).

·         Admit that you are sorry

Be prepared to admit your mistakes and apologize to the archetype for the pain you have caused it. In other words, acknowledge your own pain. Remember that the archetype is part of you, your own creation. At the end of the day, you are talking to that inner part of yourself that is hurting.

              ‘I'm sorry for hurting you, for what I've done, what you've had to go through’.

·         Recommit to a new path  

In the presence of the archetype recommit yourself to a fresh start and approach to life.

               ‘I commit myself to positive thought, positive actions and to avoid the thinking and actions      

                that created you.’

 

·         Resolving or balancing the archetype

After you have acknowledged the archetype, apologized, and recommitted yourself to change, address the archetype and ask it to balance or resolve itself.

        ‘I now ask you as my archetype to release your energy’ 

If you have done the necessary inner work and your archetype is satisfied, you will see it recede into the background. 

·         Transmuting the archetype

However, if you wish to make new use of their energy, ask them to transmute or transcend. In this case say to the archetype:

       ‘I feel now I want to move on. I want to ask you to release your energy now so that I can use it for

       further growth.’

 

How is this done?

Negative archetypes have the potential to be raised an octave or two into higher, more positive and useful forms. For example, the transmuted form of the ‘victim’ archetype would be the ‘victor’. This request also needs to be given with thanks and a new intent.

               ‘I thank you for what you've done. I have overcome these feelings with your help and am no

                longer a victim. I'm now a victor.’

 

               ‘Please release your energy that I can use it wisely as a victor.’

Once again, if you follow the process correctly, your archetype will respond and you'll feel a surge of energy and release. This will tell you that your archetype has transmuted or transformed into a ‘victor’ archetype, a much higher form with a positive energy. If you have mastered imagery you may even see the transmutation taking place.

Using this process your whole shadow self can be transmuted and the freed-up energy used wisely for personal growth and unfoldment. They are wonderful sources of energy.

Why is all this this necessary?

You may ask why all this is necessary? Consider this. One of the tasks of life is to deal with our past ‘baggage’. And these unresolved issues and feelings are packaged or embodied in our archetypes. Instead of years of counselling or therapy we can do-it-ourselves quite quickly by acknowledging, facing, and resolving them in this manner. Obviously, this approach needs a commitment to do inner work and to learn the skills of meditation and spontaneous visualization or imagery. Articles on these skills are available on my website www.discoveringyourself.co.za

This article is extracted from my latest book, Understanding Metaphysics, in which I use psychology to better explain metaphysical experiences. In this regard I also want to encourage you to visit my website and get the book which will help you in your self-unfoldment. Once again, my website is www.discoveringyourself.co.za

Thank you

 

 

 For those of you that wish to publish your own books, I certainly recommend my publisher myebook.online 

The shadow-self

 Here is the link to my latest video on the shadow-self (in The shadow-self psychological terms)