Remodeling the Temple

Burning off the energies of the builder of the body so the incoming messenger can express clearly presents the great challenge. Some ideas and concepts to help us understand the work to be accomplished before the walk-in can really do that for which he or she has come are needed.

First, remember the incoming one is not here for her- or himself alone but has been granted the opportunity for service to humanity and to this era. So having arrived within the body, we may find the “house” we have entered to be ill, polluted, weak, or inadequate. Any of the above requires effort to repair. If life had been easy, the builder would not have sought escape, so naturally the new inhabitant has a job to do.

In addition to reconstruction of the body, the emotionallife is usually adversely affected by the disappointment, despair, and/or addiction (emotional if not chemical) the previous one has experienced. The mental state may be confused, underdeveloped, or lost in illusion. All of this says little of the loss of spiritual connection, which is the true reality for the incoming one.

Where do we begin? What techniques? First, I would say, we need a mentor who understands the walk-in theory. A good friend and wonderful listener certainly helps, but real effort has to be made on each level. Compare inheriting this personality life to inheriting an old farmhouse. It will probably need repairs to the structure, the wiring, the plumbing, and certainly a new roof and a fresh paint job.

Mentors can help messengers adjust to the exchange, if they have not; many reject the idea for several years. Doubt is easy in all the confusion. It is simpler to believe we are suffering delusion than to bear the strain produced by ridiculing family or disbelieving spouses. There is a kind of grief to bear—often about the earlier inhabitant. Many times walk-ins wonder if the builder of the body wants his or her body back, or if they are still around; sometimes the newly entered construct a thought-form of the former person and judge themselves by it.

All of this has to be talked through before messengers can dare to get on with the reason for which they have come: to make a difference in the collective human journey. Preparations to do the work and to dear away old debris may cloud the consciousness until we empower ourselves to take up our task—whatever it happens to be.

Start a body purifying program and a health program. A healthy, well-exercised body does not hold depression. While the body is being tended, so too are the emotions.

Some experimentation may be required to determine the needs and help to which the body will respond. A properly regulated exercise program can facilitate basic bodybuilding. Nothing beats walking, and most of us can do this. Exercise is particularly important for those with a tendency toward medium-ship for the bodies soak up the negativity of their environment. These bodies tend to be puffy, and when we absorb the pains—physical and emotional—of others, negativity builds easily to block a wiser awareness.

While we are reworking the physical and making it our own, we likewise have to dear away emotional scars and false truths that form psychic residue within the psychological nature. The emotional life may have been in shambles; now love is needed---not emotionalism, but friendships that are honest and supportive. The sensitive newcomer mayor may not be able to do much, but an understanding that the wiring and plumbing are damaged is important. A good therapist could be the number one tool, a stable one with whom to bounce about confusing issues.

There is more confusion than is generally acknowledged about what is appropriate and to whom. What about family? What about others’ opinions of the messenger? Who to trust? Can we trust our own thoughts? Are we mentally ill or seeking to escape something?

A good counselor or therapist might be described as: the one who holds the flashlight while the messenger crawls about on the carpet looking for a lost contact lens. The therapist holds the clear and objective perspective while we look for the lens that will help us see more clearly. This person is valuable and necessary when we lose our perspective in the emotions and disorientation of daily life. Emotional healing is facilitated in any number of ways, but adequate grounding in order to accomplish daily business is the proof of the pudding. We need to understand we inherited a nature that came with “stuff” and to find those pain-saturated areas. We have chosen to use this personality to the best of our ability to do the work for which we entered, so now we must do the healing. We take note of our emotion-backed demands (addictions) and the pain they breed. We can use techniques such as the twelve pathways to building witness consciousness offered by Ken Keyes in Handbook to Higher Consciousness.

We pursue diligently, eliminating negativity and consciously building areas of positive energy: gratitude, appreciation, an eye for beauty, new friendships with healthy companions, appropriate boundaries that protect us as we do the work of learning to love ourselves. Remembering we cannot love our neighbor or the higher world in the way we desire until we can love our basic selves, we begin the first step.

Self-love is not egotism, we recall repeatedly. Poor self-esteem destroys lives, creates victims, harbors resentment, and basically blocks the expression of our higher nature. We learn to love and appreciate the self within and bring it to a level of maturity that can render its service to the World.

To do all of this, new perspectives are required. We must break through concepts that block or inhibit. We must find our strengths and, like all the dedicated ones before us, “know thyself.” We learn to do the nightly review and other spiritual techniques that will assist us as we build new mental “rooms” in which to house our life.

Just having to adjust to “walk-in” is a concept that must be added to existing ideas. Life in other dimensions has to be pondered; perhaps notions of reincarnation, karma, certainly the glamour of being “so worthy, we are no earthly good” have to be confronted. If we are paralyzed by egotism, we will fail in the opportunity we have gained, so we strive to clear the mental sheaths of such distortions.

Meditation hastens the process on all levels. He may need instruction; we probably need to study to find spiritual concepts that meet our needs. We often struggle to find a path upon which we can reconcile current understanding and future hopes, dreams, or wishes. Especially in the beginning, the path, group, church, or center usually change periodically as we learn to know ourselves better, to keep pace with the arrival of new information from within. Often great pieces of fresh insight come into our mind and propel us from level to level. These must be integrated.

Metaphor work and healing—the-child-within types of clearing and cleansing bring rapid progress, erasing scars and fortifying a healthy psychological understanding. Twelve-step programs are really modern examples of the old probationers path for discipleship; honest commitment and fulfillment of these practices work wonders. All the ingredients of acknowledging, releasing, restructuring, and invoking the higher power will assist us to clear residue and come to new levels of awareness. At each spiral, we begin again, and more and more light flows into the consciousness being prepared.

Adopting a simple life of honesty, study, and spiritual practices—seeking clarity at each step—decreases emotional stresses. Meditation, prayer, and deep insight connect what is known within to what is developing in the outer world. Spirit life and personality life interface, and the work that so inspired the incoming soul to desire life in the physical can begin.

We sometimes speak of “burning-away” or “grounding techniques.” Know some are one and some are the other. Let me share an insightful definition of Ralph Metzner's: purgatory is the spiritual path because that is where we purify and uplift our consciousness; heaven is that state of grace we experience from time to time when we know our oneness; and hell is when we get stuck. Ain't it the truth?

These purification and grounding techniques are to clear away and to make us capable workers in the world. They are only anchors as they are lived out in day-to-day effort. They must take hold and reshape our outer life. They are called “grounded” because they heal the body, the emotions, and the perspective so we can bring the wisdom we carry in our higher nature down to Earth.

I believe impatience to be detrimental; it takes time to make changes and the human nature seeks an easy way out. We can adopt new concepts long before we live the new belief system we espouse. The basic nature has to gradually integrate healthier responses to challenges and opportunities. We have to gain new respect for the vastness of life—all its mysteries and joys. As we do this, the messenger teaches by modeling high consciousness.

My guidance has been that it takes a cycle of approximately nine years for these changes to integrate within us. This sounds so long, but it isn't. It is our time of preparation so the awareness we carry can encourage others to accept what we have to say and to strive for some of the same goodness.

May the peace that passes understanding enter your life; may the joy of soul be felt.

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