Something Somewhere Before Birth

I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Chuang Tzu. Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I don’t know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly or whether I am a butterfly dreaming I am a man.

Chuang Tzu, the 4th century philosopher, wrote those thoughts. Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu, another ancient Chinese philosopher, established the philosophical foundation for Taoism over twenty-three hundred years ago.

Taoist believe a non-physical force is the source of all things physical. Everything is non-physical before becoming physical. Chuang Tzu called that force The Tao or Dao. The Tao’s philosophical teachings are all about connecting with the non-physical self in order to connect to The Tao.

People who perform actions without intention, as well as display spontaneity, humility, simplicity, compassion, and naturalness, are what Chuang Tzu calls following The Way. Taoism is still one of the five religions recognized by the government of China.

Chuang Tzu’s dream about being a butterfly shows how tuned-in he was to another aspect of his personality. He couldn’t tell if his dreaming self was his reality or his waking self was authentic. To his dreaming self, it seems his waking self is a dream within a dream. We believe our dreaming self is a product of our waking self.

But when we consider our non-physical personality was active before our waking self, it seems logical that the dream self is a catalyst for the waking self. When religious beliefs stand aside, we realize we were something somewhere before birth. The dreaming self is the perfect candidate to be that self.

We physically feel what we create through our core and satellite beliefs, perceptions, and choices. We create the feeling-reality we experience in every moment. Our emotionally charged expectations, beliefs, and desires have a psychological energy within them. And we paint a moving picture of reality that matches those convictions.

We all have the ability to be a butterfly on our dream journey. During those journeys, we are whatever we want to be. We perform superhuman acts and meet other forms of consciousness that live but don’t exist in a physical state. Dreams seem real because they are. They give the physical self and the non-physical a chance to work together.

That free-flowing energy creates manifestations that offer the experiences and lessons we emotionally feel but may not remember. We become the butterfly. And the person who created that manifestation. In order to physically sense the versatility of our non-physical personality.

Body Romance

Just One Of Those Holiday Things.

Turn It On. Food Is Born.

Uncles And Aunts Turkey And Plants.

Meat And Three. Glory Be!

Ride That Ham And Jam

Thanksgiving Sam, I Am.

Cause

Pumpkin Pie Wasn’t Shy

When Coffee And Cream

Threw The Eating Dream

Into Overtime.

Belly’s In The Grip Of A Flip.

Come Friday,

Life Is Less Gas —

And

More Body Romance.

Best Thanksgiving Wishes!

Sack Of Slack

Lights Turn Down. There Goes The Crown.

Speed Bump Slow. Democracy’s Light

Has A Blinking Glow

In This Holy Gospel Show.

Land Of Tricks And Lawyer Dicks.

Law’s The Ball In A Criminal Crawl.

Foxy Suits. Gangster Gluts.

Voters Stuck In Denier Poop.

Constitution Maul. Greedy Claws.

Crabs Side-Step In And Freedom Spins.

On The Steps Where Truth Downs Some Gin.

Password Style. Lies Run Wild.

On Notes The Courts Wrote

Sitting On The Back

Of A Big Ass

Sack Of Slack.

www.shortsleeves.net

In Crocs Plastic Shoes

Self-Dozing Dream Posing.

Hocus Pokus That Non-Physical Focus!

Yeah—

Lying Cats Swing Savage Bats.

Rusty Nails Fall Off The Rails.

Lush Mountains Turn Fire Frail.

Vivid Memories Resume Then Bloom

In A Wall-Less Room.

Political Dance Seems Out Of Tune.

Reality Blinks And Thoughts Sink

Deep In The Art Where Creation Starts.

Daylight Comes. Alarms Strum.

House Of Two Is That You?

In Crocs Plastic Shoes?

www.shortsleeves.net

In Human Muffins

Breaking News. Earth’s Got Some Shifty Moves.

Dripping Wet. Drought Places A Bet.

Fires Burn. Volcanos Yearn.

Glaciers Drop At The Flop.

Energy’s Hissy Fits

In A World Of Pissy Blips.

Close The Lid. Box Wants To Bid.

On The Thoughts That Tumble And Toss

In The Wind Of Original Sin.

Stars Agreed Freedom’s Free

Long Before Religion Grew Thorns

On The Button

In Human Muffins.

In Gray Hair

Double Down. Beliefs Wear Crowns

At The Door Of Reality’s Store.

Forget The Blame. Jesus Did The Same.

Thoughts Like Rain Can Turn Into Religious Trains.

Controlled Gain In Flowering Pain.

Degeneration Switch Does The Flip When

Weary Bones Groan And Take Back Their Throne.

Moments Of Stress Are No Longer Guests.

Backdoor Light. Fear Runs From Sight.

Cause Psycho-Time Is A Mighty Find.

Riches Dress In A Happy Mess.

Cells Don’t Mind.

Regeneration Broom Cleans The Room.

It Shakes The Air

With Electromagnetic Flair

Singed

In Grey Hair

Love Calms Things Down

Independence Day! Flagg Stands And Prays!

Stars And Stripes Caught In Fright.

Autocrat Is Up To Bat

Swinging Low And Raking In Dough.


Mind Control’s Where Slippery Eagles Roll.

Stars Galore Walk Thru That Door

Into Cells Where Energy Roars.


Trillions In Debt, Healthcare Train Wreck.

Congress Times Two Is Quite A Zoo.

It’s Rear End Stench Hits The Bench.

Pieces Of Differences. Specs Of Crust.

Marks Of Physical Rust

In Every Thrust.


Holy Truck Earth’s In Flux

Beards Of Fear Attract Lots Of Peers

In A Foggy Mist

Where Freedom Does The Twist.


It’s A Swan Ball, History Brawl.

Broken Fences Revenge Consensus

Legions Of Ruffled Clowns

Continue To Frown.

They Forget.

Love Calms Things Down.

In Your Parking Lot

Planets Line Up. Freedom Takes A Dump

In The Court Of Partisan Torts.

Supreme Cream Fell Off Its Beam

Justices Drool On History’s Spool.

Time To Drain The Golden Pool.

Snarly Laws Twist And Turn

Prick and Burn

Independence From Its Turn.


Criminal Clams Wrapped In Ham

Stash The Cash In Dog-Water Fash.

Truth Has Soul. Judges Mold.

Choice Remorse Rides A Dead Horse

On The Wake Perceptions Make.


Fetus Knows When To Come

And When To Run.

Right To Live Is An Inward Trip.

Right To Die Never Wonders Why.

Religious Crooks Cooked The Books

In A Big Ass Blind Spot

In Your Parking Lot.

Colors Of Aggression

The typical citizen drops down to a lower level of mental performance as soon as he enters the political field. He argues and analyzes in a way which he would readily recognize as infantile within the sphere of his real interests."

In his 1942 book, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Joseph A. Schumpeter, the 20th-century Austrian-born political economist and Harvard professor, make the obvious more obvious. Professor Schumpeter explains why we experience the political earthquakes that have most people in a state of anger, fear, frustration, and disbelief. We sit and watch as good old devious behavior continues to duplicate itself.

Capitalistic politicians (Capoliticians) begin to march in sync with greed, revenge, and the other negative personal perks long buried in the capitalistic political system. Men and women change when the herd mentality of politics offers them power and the financial rewards that come with control. The urge to help the country turns into a quest to stay in office at almost any cost.

Not all the elected march to the beat of their party’s plan. Those people have a hard time getting anything done. The Party mindset and endless reelection chaos and suggestions loom over every party decision.

Despite marketing rhetoric from both parties, neither one has a credible track record when it comes to controlling spending or addressing issues that increase the well-being of voters. The same economic, social, religious, and racist issues in the minds of millions of voters centuries ago still overflow on the flaming stove of party politics.

We live the modern form of political slavery. That kind of slavery tilts the scales of wealth in a one-sided, creative, destructive way. Newly elected politicians attach themselves to the capitalistic gravy train while millions swim against the political current in survival mode.

The only truth in the Capolitical system is there is no truth. Nothing’s more obvious than the unobvious in our form of government. Our blue and red politicians survive on misinformation and inaccurate perceptions. The perception that hatred of war brings peace is just one of the fallacies we learn to accept.

Political hatred creates more hate. Hate never brings peace. Only the love of peace brings peace. But there is no peace when politicians wear their colors of aggression. Modern-day political aggressiveness dresses in suits of rightful social character, and it walks in moral stilettoes. And that hidden agenda aggressiveness keeps the country in a state of social and economic trauma.

We create what we experience using our perceptions and the beliefs that produce them. In this political environment, our perceptions scream for social justice and freedom. But the system is on life support. It’s tangled in its distorted web of redundancy.

Change is the engine on the perception train. We have the ability to turn the tide in our political system. We can do that by being responsible for what we create.

It’s time to realize we create these political situations. We created the rascals that fuel them in order to live the drama. And whatever value fulfillment comes out of the spontaneous order or disorder that develops.

Psychologist Ken Wilber’s Eight Awareness Waves

Here are the ego’s eight awareness waves detailed in Psychologist Ken Wilber’s work in transpersonal psychology. Included are examples of each Wave, the percentage of the population, and the social power they possess. The population figures and percentages continue to change.

The Beige or Instinctual Wave is all about survival. Necessities like food, warmth, water, sex, and safety rule immediate behavior. This Wave exists in newborn infants, late-stage Alzheimer’s patients, the elderly, starving masses, mentally ill street people, and PTSD patients. One percent of the population falls into this Wave. They have zero percent of the social power.

The Purple or Animistic Wave focuses on magical spirits. This Wave includes ethnic tribes. Those tribes believe in and incorporate curses, blessings, and spells to determine events and future experiences.

This Wave exists in family rituals, third-world cultures, gangs, corporate tribes, and athletic teams. Ten percent of the population displays this awareness, and they incorporate one percent of the world’s social power.

The Red or Power God Wave lives by the urge to believe in powerful beings. Powerful beings like archetypal gods, goddesses, spirits, dragons, and feudal lords. This Wave tends to be impulsive. And Red also displays egocentricity and a heroic mindset.

To the Red Wave, the world is a jungle full of bad guys and threats. They enjoy trying to outfox, conquer, and dominate others.

This Wave exists in kids in the terrible twos, feudal kingdoms, gang leaders, New-Age narcissism, epic heroes, rock stars, and soldiers of fortune.

They incorporate twenty percent of the population and have five percent of the social power.

The Blue or Mythic Wave incorporates the belief that life has purpose and meaning. The outcome results from the action of a powerful order or supreme being.

Religious order enforces a strict code of conduct based on the principles of right and wrong. Code violations demand serious consequences, but following the code yields a lasting reward.

Blue believes in one right way and a wrong way to think about life. And there is a group of rigid higher-order judges who deal with violators. This Wave is fiercely conventional and extremely conforming.

Blue exists in Puritan America, China, religious fundamentalists, Girl and Boy Scouts, and the moral majority.

They hold thirty percent of the social power and forty percent of the population.

The Orange or Scientific Wave likes to escape from the herd mentality. Orange seeks the truth using rational deduction and objective experiments. They believe in natural laws, and they learn, master, and use them as manipulation tools.

Orange are high achievers. And they focus on materialistic gains.

Orange believes the laws of science rule human behavior and the economy. To them, the world is a chessboard. Winners gain perks and prominence over the losers.

The earth’s resources are there for strategic gain.

This Wave exists on Wall Street, the emerging middle class, the cosmetic industry, The Cold War, the enlightenment set, the fashion industry, and corporations.

They hold fifty percent of the power and thirty percent of the population.

The Green or Sensitive Wave believes in human bonding, ecological sensitivity, networking, and open communication. Green believes the human spirit must free itself from greed, divisiveness, and dogmas.

They cherish the earth, and feelings trump cold rationality.

They are against the hierarchy and cherish relationships.

Green also believes in subjective thinking. And Green also believes in conscious multiculturalism with a relativistic value system. Green believes this system brings harmony to the body, mind, and spirit.

This Wave exists in postmodernism, Greenpeace, animal rights, human rights advocates, Canadian health care, humanistic psychology, and Netherlands idealism.

They hold fifteen percent of the social power and ten percent of the population.

The Yellow or Integrative Wave believes that knowledge and competency supersede status, power, and group sensitivity. The current world order results from different levels of reality, which contain unending probabilities and choices.

Spontaneity, flexibility, and functionality are Yellow’s highest priorities. Differences are lessons, and they are part of the natural flow of non-judgmental discernment.

Yellow holds five percent of the power and one percent of the population.

The Turquoise or Holistic Wave unites feelings with knowledge. Turquoise believes multiple levels of consciousness mesh into one conscious waking system.

They think there is a universal order, and that order supersedes the external rules of the blue and green Waves.

The Holistic Wave also believes the whole of All There Is is greater than its parts. To Turquoise thinkers, all life unites in the free-flowing stream of the whole’s consciousness. And they sense an unending unification within the energy that exists in all awareness.

This Wave has one percent of the social power and 0.1 percent of the population.

The interesting point is we all identify some of our beliefs in the first six Waves. Beliefs in the last two Waves are still foreign to some. But Waves of awareness continue to wash over all of us. And when they do, we experience life based on perceptions developed from focused beliefs in each Wave.

How Do You Like You Now?

A version of the postmodern Green Wave (a human awareness development stage) with its pluralism and relativism has actively fought the emergence of more integrative and holistic thinking. (expanded awareness)

Psychologists Beck and Cowan point out that second tier-thinking (expanded awareness) has to emerge in the face of much resistance from first-tier thinking. (The first six stages of awareness)

In his book A Theory of Everything, Psychologist Ken Wilbur continues to open the door of awareness a little wider in the physical and psychological evolutionary stages of human development. According to Wilbur and a growing number of other psychologists, humans evolve through eight major awareness Waves. And all Waves have an intimate psychological connection.

Each color Wave contains a plethora of beliefs that create the physical experiences of the ego. In Wilbur’s version of Spiral Dynamics, each color displays the ego’s awareness stages in this physical reality.

Some egos decide to stay in one level of awareness, even though other Waves are there to experience. The beliefs developed in each Wave continue to fuel the ego. And the ego stays there until some event alters a belief structure. That change opens the door for another stage in the ego’s perception of the reality experienced.

Even though egos usually flow from one Wave of awareness to another, they can always move to another Wave or several Waves because of the characteristics and beliefs in other Waves.

All Waves of awareness tend to turn on each other physically to establish a feeling of supremacy of some kind. There is a genetic element of aggression in humans. It’s a survival emotion that some egos take to extremes.

Objective thinking trumps subjective knowledge in this physical world. A war of wits and sometimes brawn takes precedence between egos with different beliefs. Egos create an individual reality around those beliefs.

Within those beliefs, influences cast a net of impulses around ego awareness from external and internal thoughts and perceptions. The ego makes choices that complement associations and the suggestions attached to beliefs. Those choices are the doors to a pool of perceptions. We call the experience from our perception our reality.

Our beliefs control what we create and how we create it. We protect the reality we create even though we know other Waves exist around us. So, preconceived debates about different beliefs rarely resolve anything.

For example: We see the actions of the Green Wave’s bonding beliefs and the Orange Wave's aggressive beliefs play out around the world. We watch arguments heat up as the Orange Wave tries to convince the Blue Mythic Wave it has more rational value in this reality.

Orange believes the laws of science rule human behavior and the economy. To them, the world is a chessboard. Winners gain perks and prominence over the losers.

The Blue or Mythic Wave believes life has purpose and meaning. The outcome of their beliefs comes from the action of a powerful order or higher being.

Green pluralism constantly smothers Turquoise holism. Turquoise or the Holistic Wave believes multiple levels of consciousness mesh into one conscious waking system.

Red Wave’s egocentrism ignores the Purple Wave. And Purple’s belief in magic puts a hex on the Green Wave.

The Red Wave believes in powerful beings like archetypal gods, goddesses, spirits, dragons, and feudal lords. They display characteristics of impulsiveness, ego-centric behavior, and heroic actions.

The Purple Wave still focuses on magical spirits. Purple continues to form ethnic tribes, and it incorporates curses, blessings, and spells to determine events and future experiences.

The Green Wave accuses the Yellow Wave of being authoritarian, sexist, racist, and hierarchical.

Yellow Wave egos believe knowledge and competency supersede status, power, and group sensitivity. The current world order results from different levels of reality, which contain unending probabilities and choices.

The Green Wave focuses on human bonding, ecological sensitivity, networking, and open communication. Green believes the human spirit must free itself from greed, divisiveness, and dogmas.

The Green Wave pluralism been in charge of cultural studies for the last thirty years and wants to keep it that way. That mindset makes it difficult for Green to move into more holistic stages of awareness.

The fact is unity exists within the ego's eight Waves of awareness. But individual ego beliefs, influences, and associations within core and satellite beliefs— and the perceptions created — are objective challenges on the road to creating a form of conforming discernment.

Egos tend to discount beliefs that are not part of a particular perception of awareness. Egos travel on the vehicle of time to experience an assortment of challenges. The lessons and emotions egos physically experience become personal road signs.

Road signs show the diversity that egos can handle. And they show the need to create value fulfillment regardless of the Wave of awareness. The ego's endless Waves of development never stop.

Our Pearl

The Guest House

Darling, the body is a guest house; Every morning someone new arrives. Don’t say, “O, another weight around my neck!” Or your guest will fly back to nothingness. Whatever enters your heart is a guest From the invisible world: entertain it well. Evert day and every moment, a thought comes Like an honored guest into your heart. My soul, regard each thought as a person, For every person’s value is in the thought they hold.

If a sorrowful thought stands in the way, It is also preparing the way for joy. It furiously sweeps your house clean, In order that some new joy may appear from the Source. It scatters the withered leaves from the bough of the heart, In order that fresh green leaves might grow. It uproots the old joy so that A new joy may enter from beyond.

Sorrow pulls up the rotten root That was veiled from sight. Whatever sorrow takes away or causes the heart to shed, It puts something better in its place. Especially for one who is certain That sorrow is the servant of the intuitive.

Without the frown of clouds and lighting, The vines would be burned by the smiling sun. Both good and bad luck become guests in your heart: Like planets traveling from sign to sign. When something transits your sign, adapt yourself And be harmonious as its ruling sign, So that when it rejoins the Moon, It will speak kindly to the lord of the heart.

Whenever sorrow comes again, Meet it with smiles and laughter, Saying, “O my creator, save me from its harm, And do not deprive me of its good. Lord, remind me to be thankful, Let me feel no regret if its benefit passes away.”

And if the pearl is not in sorrow’s hand, Let it go and still be pleased. Increase your sweet practice. Your practice will benefit you at another time; Someday your need will be suddenly fulfilled.

Rumi, the 13th-century Poetic Mystic, wrote those words during one of his physical connections with his non-physical personality. Rumi’s poem explains how our consciousness expands in physical form. We are aspects of the gestalt of consciousness we call God. Consciousness is not a thing. It is the action of physical and non-physical energy.

We experience the action of our energy through our beliefs, choices, and perceptions. Sorrow and pain are energy tools in our perception structure. We use them to change or expand our beliefs.

The well of non-physical wisdom within the self flows constantly. That flow has an expanding impact on physical reality. Perceptions create projections to experience, and we call them our reality. The emotions created by our experiences fill the conscious mind with feedback from our perceptions. And, at times, we find the self dangling from a cliff of fear.

At other times, we feel connected and safe. Our emotions respond to our creations. Painful as well as joyful experiences open the door of awareness, and we feel aspects of our non-physical personality reacting in a kind of spontaneous discipline. Spontaneous discipline brings us closer to the self that knows no distinction between our physical and non-physical personality.

Every morning, an impulse arrives from our imagination, and we create another guest and give it a name. Those guests help us focus on the non-physical part of us. That part of us is our Pearl, and it’s waiting to fulfill us at any rate we choose.

For more information about the non-physical self, check out my book Pine Cone Pandemic with Acorn Dressing. ISBN# 978-0-9778130-8-7 Available in all bookstores.

Hungry Bats

Angel Boat Got God’s Vote.

Dumbbells Of War Pulled Death Ashore.

Convictions Build Walls — Acceptance Falls.

Narrow-Minded Roads Make Cells Explode

From The Pain In Fear’s Refrain.

Ego’s Joke Crumbs Do Float

In The Bowels Of Political Cows.

Star Dipper — Grab A Zipper

Kick The Can Is Anger's Plan.

Strap-In Time

Whimsical Will, Take That Pill.

Mother Cloud Dresses Loud

Storms By The Pound

Misery Got Its Own Merry-Go-Round.

Clusters Of Thoughts Drawn Taunt

Into A Bow Of Mighty Wows.

Fly Above The Cracks Without The Smack.

Suggestions Turn Into Facts

In A Mob Of Hungry Bats.

Narcissistic Pests

Watering Eyes Crashing Tides

Brother Against Brother

In A Box With No Sides.

Talks Sit in Flames

While Killing Is On Parade.

Slippery Dick’s Deeply Pissed

Wants Land And Fame In His Name.

Czars Squeeze Tight.

Kings Roll Lethal Dice.

Political Foes Draw Back Their Bows

And Paint Their Woes On A

Armored Stand With

Noble Plans.

Stoic Man On The Wall

Throw Another Wake-Up Ball.

The Kind That Sticks On The Fence

Where Peace Makes Nests

In Narcissistic Pests.

Thought Energy

Human beings are born because of the accumulation of Chi. When it accumulates, there is life. There is one Chi that connects and pervades everything in the world.

Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi wrote the 4th-century book, The Great Happiness. In that book, he explains the energy the Chinese call Chi. Zhuangzi claims Chi is an eternal, non-physical life force. That life force is in a constant state of expansion. He also thought physical life has limits, but the amount of things to know has no limits.

Zhuangzi is a relativist precursor. True relativists believe absolute truths do not exist in physical life. Truth is an association with a core belief within a language or culture.

Chi exists around the world, according to Eastern esoteric schools of thought. Non-physical life force and energy flow are the Western words that describe Chi. The Indian word Prana has a similar meaning.

Huangdi, also known as the Yellow Emperor, lived 2,500 years before Zhuangzi. Huangdi developed what is now known as Chinese medicine. He believed Chi is the foundation for all healing. He developed acupuncture to remove self-created internal blockages that limit the flow of Chi through the body.

The ancient Chinese philosophers knew thoughts create physical matter. Our thoughts contain energy from our imagination which is an aspect of our non-physical self or soul. Thought energy flows through layers of our self’s consciousness, and we feel the effects of that motion.

Blocked energy from disturbing emotional thoughts manifests internally and physically in some way. When thought energy tries to change our cellular design, the cells respond. Our cells contain atoms. Atoms are patterns of probabilities. When the cells receive the emotional energy we produce, they react to the probabilities that develop from the atoms in that energy.

Fearful thoughts restrict the energy flow or Chi through our bodies. Stress-free emotional thoughts increase our energy flow. Blocked emotional energy helps create the illnesses we experience.

Our emotional thoughts tell our cells what to do. And our atoms produce the appropriate probabilities based on the energy flow our thoughts give them. Probabilities and our perception of them create what we experience.

Your Narrows

Cameras Rolling Hearts Are Bowling.

Strike And Spare

Don’t Split Hairs In A Cove

Where Love Overflows.

Multicolored Lights Energy Takes A Bite.

Indelible Ink Paint Me Pink

Surrounded In Red Like Souls Just Wed.

A Sprinkle Of Flowers Dress The Hours.

In Chocolate Sauce, Strawberry’s Boss

When Valentines Arrows

Touch Your Narrows.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Ready And Primed

Ancient Beliefs Don’t Do Me No Good

No More.

Nibbling Bones Until They Groan.

Phantom Thread Come To Bed

Footprints in Lice Rolled The Dice.

The Kind That Stick To Toughs

Already Bought With Behavior Taught.

Bandanna Savior — Any Flavor.

Search The Screens, Blow Some Beans.

Kiss The Bear In Your Hair.

Lift The Laird.

Discernment — Cut The Pear.

Forgiveness — Take The Dare.

Truth Time

Has A Different Rhyme.

An Inner Self

That’s Ready And Primed.

Belief Tune-Up

"The exploration of the highest reaches of human nature and of its ultimate possibilities has involved for me the continuous destruction of cherished axioms, the perpetual coping with seeming paradoxes, contradictions and vagueness. And the occasional collapse around my ears of long established, firmly believed in and seemingly unassailable laws of psychology."

Abraham Maslow, the founder of humanistic psychology, wrote those thoughts. He identified a four-layer hierarchy of basic human needs. The four basic needs are physiological esteem, love, friendship, and security. Higher levels of needs also exist. Those needs are sensual understanding, esthetic appreciation, and spiritual needs. When we become aware of those needs, self-actualization comes to the surface. That means we believe we are the person we think we should be.

We live in a body filled with beliefs. Our ideas and thoughts are more than shadowed images. Thoughts act like invisible cells looking for a belief. Thoughts and beliefs affect our nervous system, and the body responds accordingly. The cells respond to core beliefs because there is so much emotion attached to them. Core beliefs are the deeply embedded emotional thoughts passed to us through our family and early education.

The core belief system includes deep-seated thoughts about relationships, duplicity, sexuality, truth, emotions, perceptions, religion, science, and the physical universe. Within those core beliefs, other beliefs develop through our associations and influences. We build thought fortresses around our body of core thoughts. And we challenge any incoming thoughts that do not conform to our core beliefs.

We also have hidden beliefs that fly in and out of our core belief environment. Examining beliefs enhances our awareness of who we are. We become more aware of the type of energy we project into our physical reality.

When we combine our beliefs with imagination and emotions, we form a mental picture of what we want to experience. We initiate the action of our consciousness through that desire. And it manifests physically in some way. The non-physical energy within us creates what we want to experience. Our beliefs create perceptions. And our physical and non-physical consciousness responds.

As Maslow points out, most of our beliefs need a tune-up because many of us are not aware of the manifesting power within emotionally charged beliefs. www.shortsleeves.net