Energy, Intent and Writing by Jim Vires

Featured Writers Corner

The allure and magic of the printed page

When I first got the idea to feature some of my struggling author friends, it was a seed kernel: a tiny cell in need of germination: I have quite a few writerly friends in various guises, on a couple of continents, some friendships generated through the miracle of electrons… all extremely busy at what they do. The writerly occupation, after all, as we’ve said before, is not something you can pick up and put down. It lives inside. It has its own form of development, its own pace, its own drive. We, the hands on the keyboard, the implement allowing it voice, are merely facilitators.

So, when some of my author friends agreed to write a guestblog for me, I was over the moon. Every writer sees the Muse differently. Every one of them has a unique perspective on our communal pursuit.*

All of them are busy, as I say: as a writer, storyteller, blogger, novelist or journalist, you have to keep at it or you’re doomed. So it was not a surprise when some of my friends said they’d do it, but it would be a while.

Jim Vires, my column guest today, said: ‘when do you want it?’

Jim is just as busy, just as motivated, just as obsessed as the rest of us.

Evolution of a Conceptual God by Jim Vires on Amazon

He has just launched his phenomenal ‘The Evolution of A Conceptual God’ on Amazon – subtitled: ‘Navigating the Landmines’. It is a collection of powerful stories, both fiction and non-fiction in a life curve designed by the author to overcome adversity and his gratitude in being able to do so. Jim arranged for all profits from the sale of his book to go to Salvation Army Homeless Shelters.

He’s moderator/group leader Yinseriv of the NonFiction writers group on KPN Network (run by KeyPublications guru Damian Gray); he’s a video wiz, photographer and music buff; and he writes — and helps others to write — in his so-called ‘spare’ time. He also dashes about the country helping others get their books launched, but we won’t go into that this time around… in short, he’s an inspirer, as well as being inspired.

I am therefore honored — and delighted with his speedy response — to be able to present the spiritual view of storyteller, ‘teller-of-tales’ Jim Vires on writing as a medium to inspire others.

Energy, Intent and Writing by Jim Vires

Often I hear from other writers that they have succumbed to Writers’ Block. To be truthful, these words have passed my own lips. I suffer from this self-imposed malady when I think of writing as a craft, or as my job. For me, there is a cure for the condition, but I never learned of it in any college classroom. The glossy paperbacks touted as ‘How To’ by bestselling authors fail to mention it either. I remind myself that writing came to humankind as a gift.

Before I continue, allow me to address any readers who may bring up that language preceded writing as a gift to humankind. As a member of a tribe with a long history of storytelling, I do agree that language is a gift. I also see the gift of language shared by other dwellers of our planet. To the best of my knowledge, so far, only humans have mastered writing with purpose.

‘Purpose’ is the key word I want to focus on about writing. Often as writers, we start with a set purpose in mind as we put words to page. Our cerebral cortex starts firing as we set our awareness to a task. When all works well, we find that we enter an altered state of awareness as we write. The distractions of outside influence fade as we focus on the words imparted from our brain to the world. You may call this altered state by any number of titles depending on your frame of reference. In the end though, it becomes one writer acting with purpose, to place format to a thought using one letter at a time.

Are you aware of the purpose of your words? Many of us have used the written word to influence, or at times, manipulate the thoughts and emotions of others. When we do this well, we transpose our intent to the will of our readers. This is never ‘bad’. Without the phrasing of a thoughtful love letter, our reproductive prerogative never would have evolved from who is the best physical suitor. Wars have started and ended over the words written on a page. These are just three examples of the power behind the purpose of words.

What happens once the words leave my brain and enter the domain of the reader? All control of my purpose, intent and meaning default to the experience of the reader.

Shall we try an experiment?

Smile.

Jim Vires - perennial optimist, author of 'Evolution of a Conceptual God'

Five simple letters form one word. What did you think of as you read the word? Each of us filtered that one word through our experience. Did you smile at an innocuous request? Perhaps you came from a background where you learned that a smile is a mask. The word smile may signal a harbinger of deceit. The point I make is that as I typed the word there was one meaning in my mind. One purpose. Through the act of reading, we all share the word. It has become our word. This is the Spirituality flowing underneath writing. We connect in a shared experience.

As a writer, I am all too often forgetful of this on a conscious level. Until I enter an altered state while writing, I am imposing my will, purpose, on the reader. Once I do enter that state, words flow from my fingers in an attempt to connect with my projected reader. Instead of imposing, I strive to connect with you, the reader. You become the focus of my being. This is the joy of being out of myself and fully alive in this moment. This is the gift of writing.

Does this seem a little too ‘New Age’? Allow me to challenge this. What is the power of any classic literature? The writer has taken us outside of our existence and placed us within a frame of reference we may never have lived. The writer places words in a careful arrangement that allow us to travel inside of the written word and give life to the words. The words become living words. In a transcending of time and place, we enter into a contract of writer and reader. The writer wrote with purpose. At what point though, did the purpose leave the intent of the writer and become part of a greater purpose? This happens the moment there is a reader.

While in the process of writing, the writer owns the words, and it is the writer’s job to bring meaning to those words. A thoughtful writer always considers the intent of the words. The writer considers the thoughts and emotions that the reader will experience by the selection of the words.

This again brings me back to purpose when writing.

The written word can wound and it can heal. Rarely when writing are our words a null void. Why would we write if they were? Granted, most of us write without intent to hurt others. How often has your intent been to heal? I dare to guess that it is not often enough. When we use our words to educate, lift up, or bring a smile to our readers, we are engaged in healing work. As we enter an altered state while writing, we become funnels for the energy that surrounds us. The words become a balm freely given to the writer with the understanding that they are to share with readers. If we allow the process to shine through us, at the end of the job the words turn into a paper, story, poem, blog or a book. The writer gives up ownership of the words.

At this point, the reader now owns the words.

As stated earlier, we can never tell with certainty the perception that a reader is going to bring to the page. It is now on the reader to take the words to a new sphere of influence. The five minutes a reader spends reading on work break eases some of the tension and worries that are common to so many. The reader interacts with coworkers and family, now infused with the purpose, power, of the words he read. A classic energy string radiates within a community and quite possibly returns to the writer.

I wrote this blog with intent and purpose for you, the reader. As I distill final words to an ending, I understand that my part of this contract ends. Now the contract rests with you when you continue your life.

Smile.

It is a simple word, the word smile. Such a simple word holds so much transformative power.

© Jim Vires 2010

Ed. Thank you Jim for a sidestep into the cosmic realm of dreams, belief, heart and soul and for bringing us back to earth too: because this is where we all have our work cut out for us!

*My other writerly cohorts who have appeared or will appear again in this conspiracy to collude in the crystallization of seed-words on the printed page include:

Cathy Evans
Hart Johnson
Pete Madstone (May 2010)
Natasha Ramarathnam
Genie Rayner (October 2010)
Rob Read
Mehal Rockefeller (April 2010)
Catrien Ross of Energy Doorways
Tara Smith (September 2010)

And to Jim: bless you.

Our Saturn Return and The New Earth

Earth squeezed in a T-square between planetary giants in retrograde motion

The full moon in Aquarius just brightened last weekend, before plunging us and the planet back into the thick of our current conflict, heavily buttressed by a planetary T-square, the next most-challenging astrological lineup to hit us after June’s Grand Cross. It’s not that the Grand Cross has gone away: it’s just hovering, waiting to return on August 6th/7th. Saturn is dominating the astral path right now, being just about the only major planet in direct motion. And while that might not be seen as a positive aspect, its qualities as harsh taskmaster, cleanser, ruler of passion are being given a position of balance at the doorway (0º) to Libra. Right behind it, also moving direct, come Mars at 27º and Venus at 17º in Virgo. Meticulous attention to detail in love and control over unruly emotions are the best paths to tread. This is not an easy time for society (Saturn 0º Libra), the ‘real world’ of banking establishments, government departments experiencing major change. They are being directly opposed by all things expansive, generous, abundant — Jupiter at 3º Aries — and Uranus, planet of societal change at 0º Aries, encouraging us to stay alert, to think anew. Their drag is being felt most severely as both these giant planets are in retrograde motion. We are abandoning the old draconian systems, throwing out defunct legislation and top-heavy bureaucracy that no longer works. Changing channels.

Late July until August 9th: revolutionary changes in lifestyle, personal relationships, community, globally

Clustering close by, particularly since last weekend’s full moon in Aquarius, now moving through emotional and soothing Pisces, we are being guided by watery Neptune, 27º Aquarius, also retrograde, and in direct opposition to Mercury at 27º in Leo with the Sun, but suggesting a spiritual solution, steering a clear course for us through this unprecedented storm. Across the bows of these two opposing bulkheads of the zodiac stands Pluto, the planet of death and rebirth, at 3º of Capricorn, in control within its fixed, immovable T-square.

Not an easy time for mankind. But help is at hand.

It’s been said when all hell breaks loose, only the most peaceful, most love-centered and most ‘allowing’ natures will move through into the next dimension. For that is where we are: standing at a new portal into humaniity’s future.

Thirty years ago a whole generation was born into a world where Saturn stood at the doorway of Libra. That 1979-1980-1981 group of children are now, as the current golden generation of thirty-somethings, experiencing their first Saturn Return. For the Baby-Boomers, the late-’40s/early-’50s generation born after their parents’ return from war, this moment in 2010 is their second Saturn Return, the second time the giant ringed planet has made its 30-year circuit. It is no wonder the ethos of their teenage years — the glorious Sixties — is coming round again and we’re hearing the kind of special spiritual advice which was common speech in that magical era.

Two voices in particular are being heard above the clamor.

One is that of Dr Carl Johan Calleman, long-time student of the Calendar of the Maya and supporter of mankind’s entering the Ninth (and last) Wave of the calendrical system with focused intent. He suggested the weekend of July 17th-18th as an initiation to this new wave, calling it the Conscious Convergence, to tie in with the Harmonic Convergence of August 1987 which started the consciousness ball rolling again.

“Maybe it (Conscious Convergence) will be humanity’s last chance of setting such an intention, which almost with necessity must exist at an early point if we are to elevate ourselves above the economic chaos that we may expect in the years ahead.”

We the human species are, according to Dr Calleman in his interpretaion of the calendar, due to emerge from the sixth Night of the Mayan Underworld on November 2nd later this year (“Yellow Galactic Seed“) and will enter the Ninth and Last ‘Universal’ Underworld in February 2011. Conscious Convergence thus gives us a headstart for ‘Unity Consciousness’.

Those unfamiliar with Dr Calleman’s work will find multiple links on his page, but for beginners it might be helpful to start here.

There is another voice — a young female voice — who has been making herself increasingly more audible since spring this year. A young thirty-something herself, Kiesha Crowther is the daughter of a white father and a native American mother and is a tribal shaman and youngest-ever wisdomkeeper. Since spring 2010 she has been getting people’s attention by speaking about her people’s ‘New Way’ to wake up and pay attention to ‘who we really are’. Her suggestion to us, the world Tribe of Many Colors, is that the world changes today, in 2010, and she gives eight ways we might try to change our thinking about the physical. These are her pointers to helping us as a planetary family ascend.

Flower of Life: from our heart

Kiesha Crowther says: ‘the Light Beings are returning and they’re bringing their families!’ These are her suggested Steps to Enlightenment a new way of seeing;
Self-Memory – how to remember who you are;
Sustainable Lifestyle; and
Achieving higher consciousness

1. There is a Higher Knowing than ourselves.
There is a Grand Design: we are part of something greater than ourselves that has conscious intent. We can tune into that and become one with the Universe.

2. History is not an evolution of technology and production. It is the evolution of thought and we are moving through the process of thinking around the heart.

3. A new understanding of the physical world:
All things are alive and have energy. This enegy is keeping us alive.

4. Energy: Exchange energy with plants; share/take energy from the Earth. Instead of taking energy from others, get your energy from the Earth. We don’t have to take others’ energy. It is a gift from the planet: breathe in new energy from a tree, the river, the blade of grass, the rose. The Earth has energy for us. Stop giving it away. Go outside and fire yourself up. Fill up with Mother Earth energy.

5. Stop fighting to be heard or be in charge.
We do not need to feed off each other’s opinions of ourselves. If we fill ourselves up with Earth Energy, breathing it in and giving our energy back out to Mother Earth, we don’t need anybody else’s energy — nor do we need to let someone take our energy away.
We need to stop hurting each other, depleting the energy of another. Go outside and fill up with all the energy you need.

6. What do you stand for? Who do you want to be?
Why are you here? Ask yourself that and listen for the answers. You are the creator. Make a decision and watch it unfold.

7. Ways of Knowing:
Dreams are not just dreams. They come from the Higher Self. Thoughts pop out, we have daydreams; something comes into our heads. These are promptings from Spirit. Listen to them. Pay attention to your dreams.

Ask the right questions and listen. Listen to one another, listen to where the answers come from. From coincidences, through dreams, pay attention to what’s happening in your head. When you stop thinking so hard, and pay attention to what’s happening around you, you begin to receive some real information.

8. Do not become addicted to other human beings. This will stop your growth.
If you failed at something you love, why did you fail? Did you give your energy away? Did you let somebody else tell you you’d failed? We don’t have to be addicted to someone else’s opinion of us. We have our own inner path.

Things are not happening by chance. We chose to come here: to be here now. We belong to something enormous. We are part of a greater plan.

Stop thinking so hard and connect heart and mind. Start using mind to think about change from the heart. Our thinking is beginnning to realize there is more. We are realizing we are creators. Use our brains to connect with our inner knowing.

Energy
Seeing energy, sensing beauty. Filling ourselves up with energy from the planet, not from each other. Learn to take energy from plants, the mountains, trees, experience joy in the earth instead of stealing it from another.

‘We have been using energy the wrong way. That is a huge failure on our part. Now is the time to change. All the energy we need exists already on the planet. Go outside and breathe it in from an acorn, an apple, a plant, from the animals, streams, mountains. We are being asked to stop taking from others and to stop giving our energy away.’

‘All your life’s energy exists outside. If you feel weak. If someone says negative things about you, don’t let that make you feel bad. How silly! Sit outside and fill up with energy. Why does it feel so good? Because you’re plugging yourself in. Mother Earth is Everything.’

Little Grandmother Kiesha Crowther firmly believes that there is no hierarchy in this New Way of living in the New Earth. We each have the power to gather our own strength from the Earth Mother and grow at our own pace. There are no leaders, no followers. We are all equal, she says.

There is right now a physical group of around 32,000 people living this way, actually working on growing this consciousness larger. She warns: ‘If you can’t commit to it, don’t commit to it, but if you can, please stick with it.’

‘Stop telling yourself you can’t, because you can.’

Change the Channel
In order to change the balance from fear to love, she gives the advice of the ‘Grandfathers’, the Elders who say: ‘Change the Channel.’

‘If you are sitting next to someone who speaks ill of someone else or is not speaking from the heart, don’t be afraid to change the channel: shedding off what we are used to agreeing to on a daily basis and stopping it. If you hear negativity, stop listening to it. You cannot give your energy to something that is not good and expect it to change. If you give your energy to it, it will thrive. If you don’t want to have negativity in your life, change the channel.’

‘When you read something negative in the newspaper, your energy level plummets. If every one of us agrees to this contract, we will not listen to negativity.

We are the Ones we have been waiting for
‘The Grandfathers were not making it up when they said you are the very ones you have been waiting for. There is no savior who will come and change this planet. So I ask you as my brothers and sisters, people of my heart, people of the Tribe of Many Colors, will you join the cause? Will you stop listening to negativity? Will you change the channel? Then we change the world.’

‘We will charge ourselves and be responsible for ourselves and we will change the world.’

How do we change it?
‘We each have responsibility — all the answers are right here, We just forgot how to look at them. Truth is always easy. It’s the manade rules that are so hard to follow.

Through love
‘Through love this whole world is changing. Through love the light beings are returning and through love they’re going to show us the way. And through love all of those things we didn’t know before are going to become manifest to us. And through love all of our dreams are going to come true. And through love this planet earth is going to be magnificent and we’re going to be reborn. She will be reborn through love. And through love everything is possible.’

Kiesha Crowther would like us to share her message. We chose to come here NOW. We are all Creators. We are part of something enormous and it’s happening now. It is time for us to share the wisdom of the Grandfathers and Grandmothers with all people of the Tribe of Many Colors on the planet, Mother Earth.

So while Dr Calleman and Kiesha Crowther both envisage a movement of people changing for good, the Calleman ‘convergence’ focuses on the movement, while Kiesha’s advice is directed at the individual.

Both believe we can change the world.

Kiesha Crowther has a website at http://www.littlegrandmother.net and Live at Santa Fe, an Evening with the Youngest Wisdomkeeper and both she and Carl Johan Calleman have recorded and live video talks available on YouTube.