The engineer, therapist, and let’s face it, often off-kilter human being in me is drawn to the Twelve Steps as pioneered and practiced by members of Alcoholics Anonymous and many other spin-off 12-Step programs. Why? Because the program of progressive steps packs a wallop when looking for a way back to the land of the living from a place of darkness and destruction. They carve a practical path, a straightforward road for working with those errant energies; clearing one’s energy field, not to mention cleaning up the wreckage of the past. They provide a method, an accessible path to clearing a space for progression on any other chosen spiritual or philosophical discipline. The 12-Step program is, in essence, a darned good spiritual kindergarten.
Incarnational Spirituality, not a kindergarten of any kind, is a system that affirms the reality of a complex and miraculous journey from the spiritual realm, into the physical and back to the spiritual realm, honoring each stage of that journey with a big-picture view of the part we humans play in the evolution of the planet as a whole, and in even larger arenas. It promotes and helps students to develop the often latent abilities of humans to recognize, engage and co-create with energies and entities both physical and subtle (non-physical) for the healing and evolution of the planet and beyond. The mind boggles.
According to I.S., one of the effects of incarnating into a physical state is the resultant birth of one’s own incarnational light or self light. I.S. suggests that this light or personal star is an energy generator in its own right, as opposed to a more conventional way of thinking of a human being’s energy coming from the ability to tap into and channel transcendent energies (although self light can also certainly be enhanced by transcendental energy). This internal star is the natural birthright of every human; it comes with us as does breath at birth.
This star light belongs to each human throughout their incarnation. It is also thought to be their personal ‘light signature,’ their identifying ‘name’ and presence to other entities, physical or subtle, that recognize light and vibration. Perhaps the presence of this incoming light star is what partially fuels the mesmerizing experience of looking at an infant. Pure juju.
As life progresses, I.S. teaches, there are opportunities to enhance or dampen this light. Indeed, we may have chosen to incarnate this time in certain circumstances, with certain others, in order to work with particular elements or situations. Some of these situations are choices, some of these are from the environment, some are from exploring and adventuring. Over time, such causes as abuses, trauma, lack of nurturance, fears, and sometimes addiction perhaps play a part in dampening the luminosity of one’s star. Addiction can be connected to external or internal chemicals: externally produced chemicals such as those in alcohol, drugs and certain food substances, and internally produced chemicals which are generated during gambling, sex, raging, controlling, gaming, or any high-risk, high-intensity activity.
There are countless ways to collect issues, problems, self-doubts, fears, and stuck points, and if there are not coping skills and a support system to help work through these issues, the energy “packets” of these things can get lodged in the subtle field(s) of the person. Just as dirt and bugs collect on headlamps, the self star can become more and more dimmed and less and less accessible because of these distractions and interferences. As a well-lit lamp can light up a path, so a dimmed lamp can obscure it.
David Spangler has used the metaphor of a campfire in a campground strewn with kindling to illustrate the relationship we have with issues and complications in life. They are like fallen pieces of wood both in the immediate clearing and farther afield in the forest areas. These ‘kindling’ issues come in many forms and from many sources and areas: physical, mental, emotional, psychic and spiritual, as well as from the personality, the physical environment, the transcendent, the human condition. Many sources. Some of us have relatively orderly campgrounds, and others of us, this author included, may have a veritable beaver’s dam of wood for the fire.
Dealing with the kindling and dead wood brings to mind, within the 12-Step program, the process of working with resentments and life issues that are journaled in the 4th Step Inventory and shared in the 5th Step. The process of listing resentments against persons, places, things or institutions, and examining one’s fears and past is conducted with the intention of moving from a place of stuckness and blame of others to looking at the part played by self in each situation, no matter how small one’s own part might be. (This is not to be taken as a perspective of blaming victims for their injuries; for often the only part the victim may have played was to have been in a state of innocence or in the wrong place at the wrong time.)
Looking at one’s own part in a situation, however large or small, begins the process of clearing out the junk of the past, cleaning up the kindling, and reclaims one’s own power. The resultant responsibility and freedom for moving forward and making changes and adjustments in one’s own life in the present and in the future is placed squarely on the person and the sources of energy with which they connect. In 12-Step programs, the generic term for this source is one’s Higher Power.
Self-examination, sweeping up our side of the street, and being of service is good for the body and soul. This is not news. So, what is the twist, the leap in combining the perspectives and processes of Incarnational Spirituality and the direct work of the 12-Step programs? It is in the potential in the kindling. What the 12-Step program shows in a practical way, Incarnational Spirituality describes energetically.
Twelve-Step programs demonstrate that showing up, cleaning up, and being of service can keep one’s addiction at bay, and lead to a much more fulfilled life; indeed, for anyone, whether they have addiction issues or not.
I.S. shows that the kindling, examined, owned, and appreciated for the energy and information packet that it is, and released to the transformative fire, is fuel that expands and enhances our star light. It actually makes us brighter; cleans the bugs off the head lamps, and increases our luminosity.
The more we put into the fire, the bigger the fire becomes. The bigger our fire, the brighter our light—our star. The brighter our star, our light signature, the more possibilities are available to be visible to subtle entities and others that do not see the physical, but are only able to see light. (Remember the Who’s down in Whoville? “We are here! We are HERE! WE ARE HERE!”) The more visible we are to a wider variety of subtle beings, the more opportunity we have for connection, collaboration, and co-creation across the kingdoms, the transitional and non-physical realms. The more collaboration we have with allies, the more effectively and rapidly our healing and growing process as a collective whole can be.
If that is not enough, a really exciting piece is that we all have deeper and deeper areas, deeper parts of the forest in which to gather our kindling. Moreover, through individual avenues of service, this flame can be offered as assistance in helping others to burn up their kindling or as assistance in world work on the subtle or energetic planes. That means that there is no lack of fuel for the flame and that we shall never be left without fire for warming our transcendent toes and roasting our metaphysical marshmallows!