"Can it really be that simple?"

Depending on who you ask, Ascension can really mess with your mind! To clarify, it's pretty much a given that trying to become familiar with your Inmost Self is going to blow your fucking mind. In fact, that's kinda the whole point. Our Mind, which is that integral part of us that's most closely related to our Ego, is what likes to tell Stories, Stories that aren't necessarily true, even though we tell ourselves they are. I'm not saying that either the Mind or the Ego are 'bad, or 'evil', just that, as with all things, they can be used for 'good', or 'evil'. Even what we intend for 'good' can often turn out to be 'evil'! It's all good though, because even the 'evil' that happens to us can be transmuted to 'good'.

There is a saying I've heard recently, "If it's complicated, it's Ego; Spirit is simple!" Several things: saying it's simple is NOT to say it's easy! It's a tough row to hoe & like I always say, "it's gonna hurt like hell!" Not that It truly hurts US, but that, as we tend to identify with our Ego ( at least, until we wake up/ascend ), It will wound our Ego to the very core until we realize we are NOT the Ego. Then & only then can we move forward. 

Sometimes we try too hard! Of course, that could just be MY Mind telling me that, but it resonates with my Spirit that by focusing our attention on waking up/ascension, our Ego tends to step in & say, "THIS is how we do it". Depending on our personality, then, we tend to look at others who are awakening/ascending & if they aren't following the same steps as we did ( not even in the same order, OMG! ), they're just not doing it right, nor for the right reasons! On that subject: this is not a judgement, but telling people how to wake up/ascend has become a lucrative business for some. This is NOT to say that they're charlatans, just out to make a quick buck off the weak-minded & unsuspecting, or that they shouldn't profit from their garnered knowledge, just that, "It's really NOT that complicated"!

Again though, saying "it's simple" is NOT saying "it's easy"! It's not going to be easy to look into the abyss that is our own soul & feeling it bore into our very...................soul. Things will come to the surface that we had almost forgotten were there. Things that, in our Mind, we had hidden so well that we thought they were gone for good, though every once in a while they would surface, but then, thanks to religion, we could always blame it on the Devil, right? ( a bit of sarcasm there ) This is most often called 'shadow work' & if you propose to ascend ( whatever that means to you ), you're going to have to face your 'demons'! Don't get me wrong though, 'shadow work' isn't all bad either. Just because it's likely gonna hurt like hell doesn't mean that only demons dwell in the abyss. That's where our True Self is hidden, the One that, for whatever reason, we've hidden away. We may have learned at an early age to keep our Light hidden because It hurt certain people's eyes, or because our particular Truth just wasn't acceptable in our culture.

Most people who know me, or at least know my human condition, know that I suffer from a genetic disease called ataxia. One reason that I talk so much about "trying too hard" is that I can personally attest to it, physically speaking anyway. I've learned two things from this disease: one is, "SLOW DOWN! I probably tell myself several times a day,`"Charles, slow the FUCK down!" Another is that I often try too hard: I find that if I don't focus my attention on the object of my affection so much, it often will come easier. This is probably because my body knows better what it needs than I do! There IS, I must admit, a seemingly fine line here, but usually I find that if I just go with the flow, there's a lot less complications! 

The Ego, which as I've noted before, is neither good nor bad ( "It just IS!" ) CAN pose a problem, specifically in this respect, because It informs our Mind that it can't be that simple. Going back to the whole business of profiting from helping other people wake up/ascend, the overwhelming majority of people who do so often spend a goodly amount of money themselves ( not to mention their time ) in learning how to do this so that they in turn can teach others how to properly do it.  Again, this is not to say that they have not awakened themselves or ascended, just that how they accomplished it won't necessarily work for everyone. Ask any elementary teacher how well the cookie-cutter approach works!

Call it Ascension, call It what you will, what it really comes down to is Choice! ( "Wow"; talk about simplifying things! ) No, I'm not talking about deciding whether to wear the red shirt or the blue one today, or really any choice involving the rational, or what we might be used to perceiving as the Conscious Mind. ( this is where "trying too hard" comes in ) This Choice will be made by our Higher Self ( even 'unconsciously' at first ), intuitively guiding our Conscious Mind to take the red pill as opposed to the blue one. 

Transmutation Itself is a Choice! That simple, "Yes", but NOT easy: we have to decide, or rather, let our Higher Self/Intuition decide whether to do this or that, to take one course of action as opposed to another, or even if we need to act at all. In our Mind, old programming might still come to surface with thoughts like, "well, what is THIS person going to think; what if THEY perceive it as 'bad'?!" Of course, the thing is, just because THEY might perceive it as 'bad' doesn't mean that it is or even that you shouldn't do it. No, this is where you listen to your heart & if your heart ( Higher Self/Intuition ) condemns you, then by all means, DON'T DO IT! But otherwise, if you're not hurting anyone, just bruising their Ego, then, by all means, DO IT; It's THAT simple!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles