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Feelings and Emotions By Richard Kieninger Our physical bodies are
wonderful creations that develop along predictable lines without our
intervention from birth to death. This leads most people in Western Civilization
to believe that “going along for the ride” in our physical vehicles is what
life is all about. Fortunately, there are occasional reminders that one of
our major challenges is the development of our emotional aspect. It is
something we all must learn, regardless of our gender or advancement, as none
of us is born with the characteristics of emotional maturity—the ability to
love someone other than yourself and a satisfactory capacity for work being
the two foundational characteristics. Without emotional maturity,
true spiritual advancement is unattainable. The efforts required for one to earn the Brotherhoods’ recognition and having
achieved Initiation need a sound emotional platform from which to venture
forth into spiritual realms. Learning and practicing the characteristics of
emotional maturity is a lifetime process that, along the way, brings us
closer to the Initiation requirements of balance and controlled clairvoyance. Introduction Our emotions are obvious on
the Astral Plane as they are clearly displayed in
our aura for all discarnate Egos to see. You cannot hide them! Furthermore, all the controlled clairvoyants (incarnate) do not have
people’s emotions hidden from them. Perception of Astral Plane auras does
not, however, bring along an understanding of nor
the ability to accurately interpret their meaning. Clairsentience is the
sensing of the emotions of others. Little children do it all the time because
their brain has yet to be overlaid with physical
reality. They respond to whatever the emotions of the people around them are
because that’s what dominates their consciousness;
an inescapable experience of their world. They are more aware of Astral Plane
perceptions, due to their very recent experience there, than they are with
the physical. In movie theaters where something utterly terrifying appears on
the screen and viewers respond silently, a baby will wake up and start to
scream. The baby is sensing the fear and terror of the whole audience and is
expressing it in a natural if not disruptive way. Another example is whenever
people are talking to each other. They are constantly reading each other on a
non-conscious level and responding, moment by moment, according to their
upbringing and experiences with life. This astounding phenomenon is seen in high-speed movies of two people in
communication. Depending on the degree with which they are “in sync,” the
slowed‑down images reveal their minute body movements may be a
beautifully choreographed dance or a running battle to get the upper hand,
etc. Emotions do not arise from
the body; they arise from the Mind. They are part of our Egoic package and
therefore are with us even when we are discarnate. Emotions arise of
themselves regardless of our intention or awareness of them. Feelings, on the
other hand, arise in our musculature. They are physical responses to our
Egoic emotions and, as such, can be a primary source of emotional
information. Specific muscle groups respond to each type of emotion, and we
can use this to learn about the nature and cycles of our emotional makeup. Even though the ebb and
flow of emotions cannot be blocked, they can be limited in their outward
physical expression by the conscious and unconscious tensing of our
musculature, but this has the side effect of increasing the emotional back-pressure in our lives. Natural and free outward
expression allows emotional energy to naturally dissipate, and when this
expression is limited the pressure builds up. What’s going on mentally inside and what people may have
been trained to show outside can be two different things; a major dichotomy
between the two. For example, there are entire cultures raised to not reveal any emotion of any sort. No matter what
happens, their expression or posture doesn’t change.
Such groups of people are not free or happy because the muscular efforts required to suppress their emotional reality causes pain
and saps much of their daily energy. The country of China is an
example of such a culture. Recognizing Muscular Armorings About a century ago, the
early psychoanalysts discovered connections between a person’s muscular
“holding patterns” and mental memories from earlier in life. The earlier life
memories are stored as muscular armorings, so named
because the muscle groups involved in a “forbidden” emotion have been caused to assume a chronic spasm condition that
makes the muscles feel hard underneath the skin. Whether in the abdomen,
chest, arms, legs, neck or face, this feels like armor beneath the skin.
Through specific types of physical exercises in a therapy setting, these
blocked muscle groups reveal themselves when the flow of bio-electric
energy accumulates at the site of the blockage, much like water piling up
behind a dam. The increased energy level causes an increased blood flow at that
site and appears as reddening skin color up to the point of the blockage.
Beyond that point there is a marked lack of color.
This blocking of past emotions produced by chronic muscular tension produces
long-term effects on any bodily function. Developing Muscular Armorings Due to the way men are raised in this culture, they cannot acknowledge fear,
but the resulting anger is accepted. Men are supposed to go out there and
pound lumps on the other guys. But
they can’t be seen cowering. If they do, they might just as well crawl away someplace and never be seen again. In scary situations,
they have to charge in there and express their anger, and the anger, of
course, will carry them into very dangerous situations because they can’t think straight when they are in a deep state of
anger. But that’s acceptable among men. Women can
become angry too from all the kinds of things that make men afraid. They just
are allowed to express it in different ways. As children raised in the tradition of Western Culture, we were given
the message not to show certain feelings. For instance, there is a culturally
held belief that even little boys are not supposed to show fear. Boys are raised to be tough and to be able to “take it.” So with the proper coaching from parents and teachers and
older boys, little boys please their “teachers” by tensing and blocking
certain muscle groups so as to hide the effects of their emotional response
of fear. They stop the shaking in their knees,
diaphragm and lower lip, and stop their crying and stand like good little
soldiers. After several years of this early childhood “training,” the muscle
groups involved in blocking the physical effects of the fear emotion become permanently locked. Even more insidious, the pain
produced by this long-term physical exertion is eventually
ignored by the central nervous system, and it will continue to report
to our consciousness only that information which has been responded to. In
medical jargon, this phenomenon is called exochronic pain: the pain-producing cause is still there,
yet our awareness of it has been blocked. Other widely known and
proven methods of inducing muscular armorings
include the techniques used in the punishment of children, neglecting
infants’ and young children’s needs, separating newborn babies from their
mothers at birth, allowing babies to cry (scream) themselves to sleep, and
failure to supply enough non-sexual touching activities. The High Cost of Muscle Armorings Unresolved emotional
situations, from years of suppressed emotional expression, from any and all emotions, are stored in muscular blockings
that consume physical energy for their maintenance. Those emotions that we
had to stifle as a child carry over for our entire lives for no other purpose
than to maintain themselves. We literally burn energy to keep certain muscles
continuously contracted on a round-the-clock basis. Some people have endured
such a prolonged duration of emotional tension that they are chronically
fatigued, both mentally and physically. The extreme case of this is termed
neurasthenia and is normally accompanied by
psychosomatic illness and phobias. For people at this extreme, all of their
daily energy is consumed in maintaining their muscle
blocks and they have no energy left over for anything else. The human musculature can
only tolerate so much stress before it breaks down, and muscular armorings provide us continuous stress from early
childhood on. Medical insurance records support the fact that people in this
culture usually begin experiencing physical or nervous breakdowns in their
forties or fifties, the time when their physical vehicles have become so
overloaded from the strain that they collapse. Along the way, muscular armorings also provide other symptoms such as emotional
disturbances, including depressive and autistic behaviors, hyperactivity,
sexual aberration, drug abuse, violence, and aggression. The sad fact is that
all people in the Western tradition (patriarchal) are
limited by these armorings and their attendant
symptoms. It is true that our civilization is defined by and carried with us
all in the completely unnecessary and similar
muscular armorings. Releasing the Blocks We all have years of
unresolved emotional memories that we would be better off not having. Most of
us have never had any of these released. So all of
the fears, all of the angers, and all of the so‑called unacceptable
emotions are permanently stored in our musculature. The ones locked up are
those stifled by outside demands and influences. Those things can be released by therapy without necessarily going
through psychoanalysis, because there are ways of releasing those blocks
through physical treatment. There don’t
seem to be any shortcuts to releasing our emotional blocks—neither meditation,
nor practice of the Violet Screen. There is, however, a system called
“peeling the onion” which psychotherapists use to assist their patients.
Suppose a person realizes that when in a certain situation they habitually
respond in an illogical, inappropriate manner. They don’t
know why this happens. The therapist will assist the person by saying, “When
was the last time this happened? How did you feel then?” Or,
“What brought it about at that time?” As the patient remembers
back to the circumstances of a previous situation, they perhaps become
a little more aware of what triggers those kinds of behaviors. In this way, a
person can go back, step by step, perhaps all the
way to tiny childhood. This exercise usually takes a year or two and is
something anyone can also do that on their own. When something “comes up”
that gives rise to uncomfortable feelings, whatever it might be, the thing to say is, “When was the last time I felt that?”
It may take a couple of weeks; but once you prime your memory to come up with
that answer, you will get a response. It may come up at almost any time, and
you will remember the last time that you had the feeling
and what brought it about. After you remember that, again you ask of
yourself, “When was the prior time to that?” And you
can keep on going back. Again, this is a process that takes
a couple of years, but you can do it on your own because your memory
remembers and knows all of these things. Every detail of everything that’s ever happened to you is stored in your brain
memory. This is a
process we are able to do much less expensively than going to a therapist. The skill of a therapist is being observant enough
to ask the right questions of the patient, because the patient always has the
answer. Always! At the unconscious level the individual is fully aware of what is being
blocked, and he can bring it back up again. That’s
what a psychotherapist does, and you can do it for yourself. It all depends
on how much something bothers you and how much you desire to fix it.
Unfortunately, most people will just say, “That’s the way I am; I’ll just
avoid those uncomfortable situations.” An early experimenter in
psychotherapy created a gentler system of removing muscular armoring than
those employed by others of the day. Dr. Wilhelm Reich literally squeezed the
blocked portion of the muscle with such strength that the crystalline
structures maintaining the block were broken. This exceedingly painful
experience had to be repeated many times—once for
each of the several dozen blocked muscle groups in the body. Dr. Charles
Kelly discovered that by repeating certain breathing patterns while, at the
same time, occupying the patient’s intellect with “busy” mental exercises,
the most critical patterns of blockage would be made
visible. At that point, the therapist would only have to massage the blocked
area to stimulate its discharge. Only when the patient correctly acted out
the emotion being released would the pain vanish and
turn into an intensified emotional expression. At the height of the
experience, the patient’s entire body responded in unison to express and
release the trapped emotion. When the energy block is being released, the emotion is displayed. If, for
instance, fear was being released, the person’s face
would actually look like he was in terror and he would feel that way. If
anger was being released, which is the usual one, he
would pour out terrible expressions he may have held for decades: women would
swear like sailors, men would cry and everyone would be totally exhausted
when they were discharged. Often these releases would be
accompanied by a memory of an event causing the block. After a few such sessions,
some root-level emotional memory blocks will be released.
Many people experience the results of this when later they again find
themselves in a situation that used to be emotionally painful to them. Now,
however, they find themselves much more conscious and able to act in a way of
their choosing. When a block is released, you know
it! Living with Muscle Memories To live life more in accord
with the intentions of our Creators, it is best to show our emotions and
feelings. In this culture, there are cases, however, where a person must
refrain from showing emotions and feelings: to avoid interfering in someone else’s
environment, to stop the spread of negativity, or to prevent overloading a
child. You do not want to distress people who are dear to you with things
that are privately yours. Indeed you do not want to
have all of your emotions just hanging out all the time for everyone to
see—it’s too wearing, too exhausting to have that in our environment for very
long. There are times when all of us are required to mask our emotions and
natural feelings. If you
have a negative emotion but cannot express it at the time, and you don’t want
to lock it up in the muscles in your body, how to get rid of it? Go out in the country and scream. Go for a ride in
your car someplace out in the country and just yell.
Or imagine some invisible person there who you
unload on, someone that you can scream at. A technique that has
received the stamp of approval by psychiatrists is seen in ladies
who go to movies that encourage them to cry. This releases a
lot of pent-up emotions. They usually find many other things to cry
about other than what touched them off in the movie. This is a venting
process; and the rough bumps in life are given a
chance to be aired out a little bit at a time in that way. Nothing is wrong
with going to a very emotional type of movie—not the negative ones—but ones
which are beautiful, ones that portray scenes of triumph over difficult
situations or scenes where a helping hand is extended to one in need. Movies
like that simply elicit our tears of joy and relief. But we do need to discharge negative emotions, and
that’s why some people who can afford it go to therapists every month or
every week just to be able to vent all of the stuff which is bugging them. That’s awfully expensive. How you are going to handle that
is something that you have to decide. Awareness of how you feel about other
people’s responses to your venting would probably help in that decision. Rules and Etiquette for Displays of Emotion
In our culture
it is generally unacceptable to express many kinds of emotions. In transitioning
into our future culture, however, we need to find and agree upon ways
concerning what is emotionally acceptable: when, under which circumstances,
and how it is acceptable. Most matriarchal cultures
are pretty open about emotions. But
even they have certain limits. No hitting is the one rule they have because
people who make up matriarchal cultures do not strike one another. Parents
never spank their children either, for that matter. Other cultures have
systems in which people can express strong emotions and still have the
support and interaction to communicate with other people rather than being in
isolation. An American version of this says, “Say whatever you want, but
don’t mess with my body.” Overcoming Negative Emotions
Teenagers have such a rough
time because they are not yet sure who and what they are. There’s
a world of questions they have about themselves. Questions evoked by
listening to their parents and teachers telling them that they are not good
in this, or not competent in that, or stupid in this, etc. Information like
that comes to them while they are trying to figure out who
they are, and it does little to bolster their self-confidence. It teaches
them the polarizing concept of, “Am I a good person or a bad person?” It
teaches them to be so dependent on other people’s opinions that what someone
says can either elate or crush them because they are so unsure of themselves.
When a person comes to the point that they really are confident in their
self-worth, they’re not affected by other people’s
opinions unless, for example, the guy is pointing a gun at them. They don’t let outside situations affect them. They thus have a
stronger control over their environment. The only things that make
us afraid are the things we feel we have no control over. If you know how to
deal with a situation, however scary it may be, then
it doesn’t make you afraid. It may make other people afraid, but it doesn’t make you afraid because you know how to deal with
it. It’s merely another thing to handle. Most anger
that we experience arises from our fears; when we know we’re
not in control, that makes us angry. We don’t like
being afraid. And anything that makes us afraid we
respond to with anger along with the fear. There’s a
lot of psychology involved in dealing with other people who make you afraid. And of course in some situations the very best thing to do
is just to avoid the person who is always giving you a hard time. You have to marshal your
courage based on experience, and experience comes step by
step by step. Plunging into a dangerous situation does not necessarily
mean that you are going to survive it. After you cross enough bridges you
should have had just about every kind of experience, and you find you can
survive them because obviously you are still here. That tends to lessen your
trepidation about things in general. Older people tend to take on things that
other people say, “My God, I can hardly believe he dealt with that situation
the way he did so effectively.” And that’s because
he just applied something that he has learned before in other situations and
it worked again. If you live long enough, just about everything will have
happened in your life. There eventually comes a point where you have almost
no fears and you are in total control of yourself. Moving Beyond Western
Civilization The
higher one’s advancement, the less of the emotions of fear, anger and grief
the Ego experiences. That is
because he is rarely in situations where he is not in control. He has learned
to transmute a situation or he doesn’t give another
person the power to shake him off center. It doesn’t
mean much to him because he still knows who and what he is when faced with
those negative situations. If you really have a true sense of your
self-worth, nobody can insult you. People can say insulting things about you
and print terrible things about you in the newspaper, but it doesn’t affect you as a person, simply because you know
who you are. We really are dependent on
our own self-help for things like this. We need to ask for help from Higher
Beings on occasion when it is something that is beyond you to do. But whatever you are able to do on your own They will not
respond to. They have other things to do, and it’s
not in our best interest to have someone smoothing your life all the time so
that we are living a life of nirvana. What makes us
more human than anything else is our emotions. We have other characteristics
of Mind, of course, but what makes us what we consider human is the
emotions—our responses to different situations. And
we certainly wouldn’t want to ever suppress our emotions or our sense of
beauty or things of that sort. Joy and awe are wonderful things, and some
people arrange their lives so that is primarily what they are experiencing.
They try to precipitate the very best environment for themselves because that
is what is most uplifting. Intellect must command man’s emotional nature if his desires are to serve him and
be beneficial to him in an ordered, self‑disciplined way. His self‑esteem
and spiritual strength arise from his sense of control over external nature
and over his own human nature. |
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