Micciah discusses:
• Opinions, Judgments and Discernment. Notice for yourself when what you are thinking or believing or speaking about, right speech and offering is really your opinion. Judgments are connected to opinions. Be present, in order to be discerning, present, flexible, curious. View Section

In these times:
• How to lift ourselves up? Lifting yourself up begins with you. All of the paths to peace, kindness, as the Dalai Lama says, begin with you. View Section
• What is the teaching? Go back or go in to the love that is always waiting for you. Stay connected to love. View Section
• What is the shadow of it? You are encountering the shadow of this country. And the underlying, racism, hatred, other-making, the hatred of people who are different, (Of course they’re not different. They’re just other people.) of immigrants. View Section
• How to work with ourselves with what may be coming and how to be our own healers? Open to the idea you are a healer to yourself through your connection with the larger energies, through your connection with what you love, through other people. View Section

• What is the advantage of a diagnosis of mental illness? Be careful who names you. Much of diagnostic work can be destructive, but not all of it. It can be useful to understand something, but not to get trapped by it and then dismiss the person or the situation. View Section
• What happens to the personality in dementia? If you are with someone who has dementia, whatever kind, you can affirm their there-ness by recognizing that it’s there, even if it is completely different from the person you know, that the essential there-ness is present. View Section

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   Julie: Okay. And I always feel with this group and with people I'm very close to who are on whatever path we're on. We create this together. Channeling. My experience of channeling is different with different people.
   So, I ask to be guided. In this work. I ask that the information be clear and useful. And offer gratitude for all of it. The blessing of this work, the difficulties of it. For all of it.

   Micciah: We greet you, dear friends. And we are most pleased to be invited to be with you. And as we have often said before, what you think of as the room has many visitors who have never been. Their energies have never been incarnate on the earth. So, they are learning from you as you... It is mutual as you, we hope are learning something interesting, valuable, from us. And that as has happened often since Susan Lemak’s passing, we can feel her here. Smiling.
   So, there are some things we would like to communicate before we go to your questions. And they are relevant. We are going to talk about opinions, judgments and discernment. How they are... The function they perform, the effect they have. And the importance of the difference.
   Because, in your questions, how to be in this time, which we spoke of so many years ago. How to live, how to bring peace to the world. Being able to observe yourself, your opinions, your judgments, and how to move into discernment. Discernment, Brother Fuller said, “Is one of the seven gifts of the Spirit.” This is this is not something he invented. That the seven gifts of the Spirit, of the Spirit, were part of his original teaching from the Bible.
   If you listen both to yourselves and other people, not to mention the news, opinions are rife. Yes? Some people use them skillfully. Often opinions are connected to the ego. We are not against the ego. Everyone needs a healthy ego to live in the world unless you are enlightened, and, opinions very easily attach to the less desirable aspects of the ego, which includes being right. And Alaina, we know, who also did Est many years ago, they used an expression “dead right.” That people will die to be right.
   So, to notice for yourself when what you are thinking or believing or speaking about, right speech and offering is really your opinion. And are you flexible with it? Or does it pull on you so that you and another person, or other people, get into “who's right?” What is the “right opinion?” Which is neither peaceful nor productive.
   Judgments are connected to opinions. They are often intertwined. And have to do mostly, or maybe entirely, with the preferences of the personality self. Nothing... We are not making personalities wrong or bad. The point is to be conscious of it. So, you judge yourself and either you might do it harshly, you might do it with appreciation. You judge other people. What they think and believe. And like opinions, they hook easily to the aspects of the personality self that are focused on knowing something. On being right.
   And Rick, this will come up later in your question about diagnoses. Discernment. What does it take to be discerning? You have to be present in the moment. Open and flexible. Not to be in your opinion or judgment about something. (Julie is thinking of Ronald Reagan, we believe said, “If you have seen one tree, you've seen them all.”) You need to be present. Present. But perhaps we could say in the Buddhist sense, present, in order to be discerning, present, flexible, curious. And then in, in your relationship to whatever the situation is, whether it’s intrapersonal, interpersonal. Political. Your awareness through discernment supports your wellness and vitality and freedom. And is not popular or taught, with possibly some exceptions, not in your culture.
   You are taught... First of all, it is a culture that is very focused on expertise. You, on expertise. You, when you learn something new which may happen in the process of discerning something, a situation, something in another person, something in yourself. You... You cannot learn something new and be an expert at it instantly. And you offer many courses on quick knowledge. In order to learn, learning and being discerning are connected.
    You discern that you would like to learn something and your feelings about it and being willing to be clumsy. The need to be perfect is not hardwired. Otherwise, you would never learn to walk or talk. Think of a baby beginning to walk or talk. So, being a discerning person, being able to do that, which takes practice and is very valuable. And keeps you… will keep you out of right and wrong.
   You may discern that a situation, a certain situation, is dangerous to you, to other people, and then may take action, may pray for peace. May do… You may do a number of things. But it nourishes your vitality. Your compassion. Your kindness. And allows you to move away from the need to be right. The need to convince yourself you're right. The need to convince other people that you're right. The need to make other people wrong. All of which, create difficulties. Sometimes small difficulties, sometimes enormous difficulties, Like war.
   So, this is a big subject. We will proceed to the questions, but think about it, think about it, or reflect on it or meditate on it. What does it mean to be discerning?
   And, Rick, again, to address your question, which we will come back to, but... We have used this quote before. “Be careful who names you.” That is, who has an opinion or judgment about you, because those who name you have power over you. You have given them authority. Over you. And it is so common that you may not even notice it. Being named. Big topic.
   Let’s go on because you do have questions.

   Jon: Alaina asked how do we lift ourselves up in these times?

   Micciah: How do you lift yourselves up in these times? Well. It’s really in your question. Or your query. Of course, lifting yourself up begins with you. All of the paths to peace, kindness, as the Dalai Lama says, begin with you.
   So, we can’t give you a simple... There is no simple answer. One step is opening your heart to compassion (compassion is healing) to compassion for all the players. Because the love in your heart is able to do that. Your personality may not want to. Compassion for all the players. That doesn't mean... It doesn't mean you think they are all doing, taking life affirming action personally or in whatever role they play. But you have compassion for their plight. And opening that, opening to that visually lifts a weight off your shoulders. Compassion for the people you like and the people you don't like. For people's lives as human beings. Compassion for yourself. Actively caring for yourself for the life you were given. Praising your own life and life in that larger sense.
   Being aware. Present. Noticing. Noticing. The beauty in yourself and the beauty all around you. No matter what’s happening. Because then  that awareness, appreciation and love goes out into the oneness that you share. There are people who were in the concentration camps who wrote of their experiences. And in the midst of even that, being able to notice the beauty of spring when it came, and the beauty in other people. And the people who were able to do that fared, as we understand it, better.
   And we will say what we always say, “Dancing, singing, using your body in whatever way you can.” Because the body wants to move. Celebrating, actively. Hearing music. Music is one of the great healers. Connecting, and we know we said this when the person who was in the White House previous to Mr. Biden was elected. Stay connected to yourself, to each other. You have all done, do, you all do such... Your connection is magnificent. Staying connected to people you love, welcoming people. When (what Marilyn does so well) the people around you, the people, if you are living in a building, the people who are working around you, actively welcoming, thanking, noticing, being present.
   Taking... Sometimes it’s an effort. Sometimes in difficult... People are different. We know have different personalities. Some people in difficult times have their natural movement is this way. Someone once said to Julie, if, when you are sad or depressed, does your phone bill go up or down? And now no one uses the phone, so it’s not relevant. But some people tend to do this.
   So, to gently encourage yourself to stay connected. Connection. The vibrancy of connection of human connection and connection to animals, connection to the trees, connection to the rain. Connection to the sun and the wind. We include all those kinds of connection in lifting yourself up.
   And remembering that the divine love that is the core of your being is always up. So, in whatever way you remove obstacles to your connection with that, then you are automatically lifted because it is, and it is you. Doing everything that expresses appreciation, love, awareness. Always remembering as you do it, it is shared. And it matters. It matters. It is so easy in the midst of chaos, sadness. Wars. To feel nothing I can do is going to matter much. That’s not true. One of Julie's favorite quotes from Stephen Levine, the Buddhist teacher, “If everyone did just that much, it would make a difference.”
   So yes, we will go on. We know there are a lot of questions.

   Jon: Right, yeah. The next question from Rick was what is the teaching? In some ways you've answered a lot of...

   Micciah: That is the teaching. You mean what is the teaching of this particular time? Rick, do you mean what is the teaching of this particular time?

   Rick: Yes, indeed. Especially the political struggle that the country is going through.

   Micciah: Well, a lot of what we have been, have already said. But it is... But another one is a word we don't use that often (and it’s an important word) is faith. Faith is the belief in things unseen. Faith in life and the goodness of all that is divine. When so much is happening and you are, as we have said before, you are in the noisiest time that has ever existed on this planet, noisy and flooded with information. Some of it is real information. Some of it is not real. Some of it is information, but it’s not true. But you... Never have human beings had to cope with this flood of information. Faith, patience. As we said before, compassion.
   Continuing with the practices that you have. Even when you look at what’s happening in the physical world and your personality fears so crushed by it, or anxious or angry. To be respectful of those responses. And then go back or go in to the love that is always waiting for you. There is a wonderful book by Thich Nhat Hahn called...

   Jon: How to Save the World.

   Micciah: How to Save the World. [Actually: Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet] We believe it is the last of his books. And we should add also, reading for some people whatever is uplifting to you. And it could be a variety of things. Julie often goes back to Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ann Lamott, and the teaching.
   Also, we would... Now we're going to repeat what we said. To stay connected. Stay connected to loved. Stay connected to all that you love. So, it is an active, vibrant connection. All of these things much easier to do in times that are more peaceful. This plane of action has never been a peaceful place. It’s relative.
   Yes.

   Jon: Joy had one. What is the shadow of it? And, and I sort of feel it’s semi answered already, but...

   Micciah: Well, a lot of what is being manifested that is... Is so distressing. If you are not, you are encountering the shadow of this country. And the underlying, racism, hatred, other-making, the hatred of people who are different, (Of course they're not different. They're just other people.) of immigrants. The… All of what you are seeing.  This is the shadow of this nation. And other nations are engaged in their own shadows, violent. Not shadow in a nice, peaceful way. All, all of the racism, which was never far from the surface, but was a little bit buried in this country, erupting. The violence in politics. You know, all of you.
   And there is always, you know, if you read, if you read about the beginning of this country, Aaron Burr and the time of, the birth of this country, there was also tremendous violence. And there have been much more peaceful times.
   But what you are seeing now and grappling with is... We believe we mentioned this in the context of astrology or Julie did a while ago, that the aspects we're going to bring up from the bottom things that had been hidden and activate. States of hatred. Violence.
   And we will also say what we said at the beginning of this, this person's presidency, to look within yourself (speaking of shadows.) What crumbs, (and be really careful this is not about criticizing yourself, beating up on yourself.) What crumbs are there in your shadow that are connected to the larger shadow? You have to be very careful with that. Many of you would never... would not do violence to other people, but intra-psychically do violence to yourselves, to your creativity, to aspects of yourself toward which you are unkind. And then to hold it with... Hold what you are aware of kindly, compassionately.
   Yes.

   Jon: Again, covered a lot of ground as laid out. Pat had asked how to work with ourselves with what may be coming and how to be our own healers?

   Micciah: Well, this would include everything we've said so far. First of all, to recognize that you can become your own healer, not only personally by caring for yourself and taking actions. Actions that are caring and healing, by caring for your body and caring for your health and caring for your well-being, and the very obvious kinds of care, but also caring for your psyche, caring for your spiritual life. And knowing the personality self will...
   The problems that are caused by your thinking cannot be solved by your thinking. They can be solved by, with other people on a spiritual path, by meditation, by dancing. But this is important. The step where you understand, oh, these are thoughts and beliefs that I have, that that layer of being cannot heal itself. You have to move into other depths, other layers, other realms, other modes. And to the core, which is love for the healing. To know that. Because again, in terms of the culture you live in, that’s not what you were taught. Thinking cannot cure thinking. Oh, think something different. You're still thinking. You understand? You're still in the same layer and you need to be able to think. But the issues caused by those thoughts cannot be healed through that modality.
   So, then you… To begin with, is the question, to open to the idea you are a healer to yourself through your connection with the larger energies, through your connection with what you love, through other people who are... You are healers to each other when you meet like this. And to be discerning, to be observing, observant. Again, in a kindhearted way, of the habits, let us say, that you have that do not contribute to your well-being.
   And then again, stepping carefully so you are not blaming yourself for them. Saying, oh, this is a habit. It is something I learned. It is something I repeat. I'm going to address it. So, there's room to change it. No, to transform it. We are…
   We always say, change is this [picks up a mug] you move the cup, the mug. [puts it down in a different place] Transformation is at the essence, is the essence. Transformation is a rebirth. Maybe a small rebirth. Maybe a big one. Change is just shifting things around.
   Very hard to describe these things. We wish we could be an orchestra. And notice just where your consciousness is during the day, or night, if you wake up. Where? Where do you focus? Energy follows, where your attention is. The use of your energy.
   Please go on.

   Jon: Now we get to Rick's great question. What is the advantage of a diagnosis of...about mental illness, or wellness or whatever? What does it mean to call somebody, let’s say, a narcissist?

   Micciah: Be careful who names you. Sometimes it is... It is helpful to understand, Rick, for instance, in your case, what you have said about, we believe it is your mother, that her personality pattern, narcissism is, it is... means that someone is always self-referring and psychologically it evolves out of difficulties, particular kinds of difficulties in the developmental process when... So, the self, the self never feels filled. So, there's always, “Look at me, praise me.” And it will never work unless the person chooses to do therapy or healing or whatever, and work with the internal emptiness. People who are, (we're going to continue to use the term) people who are strongly narcissistic generally do not go into therapy. People who have narcissistic characteristics do.
   It’s... From Julie's experience in this field, it takes a couple of years of listening to them before they begin to notice other people, other people's needs. And make room for ways of being that are not focused on... Where everything isn't focused on them. If you are working as a therapist, it is useful to be able to understand when you are working with someone, that the person has what is called a mood disorder, particularly the ones that involve the highs and the lows, because they can be a serious danger to themselves in the highs.
   So, then we could talk about, well, then how do you proceed with someone, and you have judgments about it? And what is the way to go, etc., etc.? But to know it is to know that this is a person, depending on how intense the situation is. This is a person who could hurt himself or herself. So, you need to know that. So, that we could say in the best, being discerning, being present with the person, not in a 15-minute interview where you then make a treatment plan. Being really present with that person and noticing the movement of their moods. And then working out by yourself and with your colleagues, perhaps, how to proceed to assist them to stabilize.
   On the other hand, diagnosing can be destructive. And a way of imagining you understand something. Julie has mentioned before, and of course, Pat knows it. The DSM, which is a diagnostic manual for therapists used for insurance purposes, and the book is entirely about disorders. So, it is easy to dismiss someone by imagining that you have now pigeonholed who they are, and you have a treatment plan. And that diminishes you and the other person.
   And as we believe Julie has mentioned, the old-style homeopaths didn't diagnose. They would ask a very long list of questions. And then they would give you a remedy. And they did not tell you what it was because they did not want you to get in the thinking of, oh, now I have X. They wanted to treat the symptoms with the appropriate remedy. Not name it. So, it’s a somewhat confusing area.
   Much of diagnostic work can be destructive, but not all of it. If you… (this is nobody [here in the meeting]) this is... You notice there is something on your arm. A spot that doesn't look right to you. Then you need to have someone look at it to tell you if that spot is dangerous or not. Then you can choose, if you are the kind of person who understands that you can choose a way to treat it. But if it, if you have, for instance, the kind of cancer, that, the dangerous kind, which is called a melanoma, it is important to know that and then you can treat it in a number of ways. You need to take it off... Off.
   But then you can treat it energetically. Lila knows so much about energy healing and how powerful it is. You can, as Julie's teacher used to say, “Don’t get stuck if you are... Use what will.. Be grateful for what is there and what will work.
   So, you can mix things. You can use a number of different kinds of treatment. You can be just as rigidly stuck in the natural way to do things. As people get stuck, who are stuck in Western medicine alone, and who will not consider anything else. As always, the healthy nervous system is flexible, open, curious.
   Energy work. What is that? When Julie first started working, there was still tremendous, not even debate, but disbelief. You mean? So, she would speak to a group of doctors, let us say, who were interested but puzzled. You mean you think the mind and the body influenced each other? And this is very old knowledge. They just didn't happen to have it.
   Now, it’s better, it‘s better, it‘s better. Not completely better, but better than it was. Much more is available. Much more is known. Many more doctors have now trained in functional medicine or holistic medicine. Yes.
   So, this addresses the question, doesn't it? The query, it doesn't answer it. You could say as a general rule, though, to be... not to get caught in the name, it can be useful to understand something, but not to get trapped by it and then dismiss the person or the situation.
   In Doris Lessing's book, the last of the... a series called The Four-Gated City there is a very prominent character in the book who keeps getting put into mental (we would call psychiatric wards) mental, what used to be called mental institutions. And the people of... Her name is Linda, and she is describing what it is like and the way doctors dismiss people. “Oh, you're nothing but a schizophrenic.” “You're nothing but a manic depressive.” This is not about discernment or real awareness. It’s dismissive. And they... And then this was a woman who was extremely sensitive, very intuitive, highly aware. She could see energy fields. But of course, the doctors thought that was just another manifestation of her being insane because they couldn't see them.
   And Julie’s joke is, if you ever end up in a psychiatric interview, which we don't think any of you will, but someone asks you, you know, “Do you hear voices? Do you see lights around people?” The right answer is “no.” “You think you feel people's energy, know things about the future?” Right answer is “no.”
   Yes. Julie has about this much more energy. So, let’s have another question.

   Jon: Okay. From Alaina again, what happens to the personality in dementia?

   Micciah: Ah, well, as Julie said earlier, it depends somewhat on the kind of dementia, because in some, some... For instance, Jon's, sister Erica has dementia, but she's very much Erica. Her memory, short term memory is not good, but she clearly is who she is. And she recognizes people and so forth. It’s quite mild.
   In people like your friend, Alaina, The... As the brain changes, the differences in the brain (and some people with what you call Alzheimer's you know) they say it has to do with, plaque, we believe it is in the brain. Yes? But there are people who have plaque in the brain and have no dementia, and people who have no plaque and, Alzheimer's, have no plaque and don't have it or do have it rather. It disassembles.
   They say the personality has its own dance and form and knowledge and thinking and history and so forth. It begins in some kind of... probably in most kinds of, oh, no, not all, but many times, and certainly, in Alzheimer's. It disassembles. And then the energy forms of the personality begin to dissolve, to some degree, and then a greater degree. The essence of the being, the loving essence of the being remains always. Consciousness remains unless and until the point where someone literally goes unconscious. But even when you are unconscious, you can be aware.
   Arnold Mendell, who is a wonderful, creative, healer, therapist, started something called World Work. He started as a scientist, and then he became a, I think a Jungian analyst. And he said he got bored with asking, “How do you feel about that?” and began to go into other areas. But he learned to communicate with people who are unconscious just by the movement of their eyes.
   So, consciousness shifts. And if you are with someone who has dementia, whatever kind, you can affirm their there-ness by recognizing that it’s there, even if it is completely different from the person you know, that the essential there-ness is present.
   I don't know what time it is, but Julie is running out of energy.

   Jon: It’s a good time to stop.

   Micciah: So. We are all so appreciative of you. And we bid you a very good evening.

   Jon: Thank you.