Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: Eckhart Tolle

  • Pluto

    Here is a new spiritual practice for you:
    don’t take your thoughts too seriously.

    ~ Stillness Speaks, by Eckhart Tolle

    Overall our co-housing continues to go well here in Port Charlotte. I am noticing a subtle communication pattern that feels a bit like argumentativeness or attachment to view. Note: I said a SUBTLE communication pattern.

    The content of the communication is irrelevant, other than there has to be something that reveals the pattern. We had fish for dinner. Fresh catch Sheepshead from Lon Maas.

    Dinner talk shifted from how good the fish was to a freshwater fish by that same name that Linda had become familiar with fishing Lake Erie. I mentioned my niece having caught a Sheepshead while she was visiting Pine Island about ten years ago and my first understanding that the salt-water Florida fish is Sheepshead (plural sheeps), while the freshwater fish is Sheephead (singular sheep). My niece had said, “I think I found Grandma Smith’s dentures!”

    Linda did a quick search and read aloud several tidbits, a couple of which were not at all what I thought I was remembering from the past. That was the end of our conversation. We went on with dinner and then played cards. But…. the following morning when I noticed my mind was still engaged, I did a quick search and opened to read:

    Sheepshead fish (Archosargus probatocephalus) are a species of ray-finned, predominantly marine fish commonly found along the eastern coastline of North America and South America. Sheepshead fish live in marine habitats and estuaries in the western Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia in eastern Canada, down the eastern U.S. and Central American coastline, and as far south as southern Brazil. They are known for their front teeth, which can look uncannily like human teeth (opens in new tab). While sheepshead fish usually live in salt water and slightly salty brackish water, they are sometimes found in freshwater habitats in winter.

    Sheepshead fish should not be confused with a similarly named species of fish on North America’s western coastline called the California sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher). While both fish species have teeth, they are not closely related and belong to different families.
    Sheepshead fish: Facts about the fish with ‘human’ teeth:

    Linda and I did talk about this some, specifically about how the browsers have a hand in shaping what information comes up in our searches. Years ago I was with three friends when we all put in the same key words using the same browser and totally different links came up for each of us. Whoa…

    An English professor wrote the words: “A woman without her man is nothing” on the chalkboard and asked the students to punctuate the sentence correctly.

    All of the males in the class wrote: “A woman, without her man, is nothing.”

    All of the females in the class wrote: “A woman: without her, man is nothing.”

    Punctuation is powerful. Words are powerful. Intention is powerful. Silence is powerful.

    The content of the next communication catalyst here in sunny Florida was palm oil. I will leave the conclusion to you: By the Way, Doctor, Is Palm Oil Good For You?, but after writing some in my journal about all of this, and talking to a friend who is fluent in all things metaphysical, I would note some of the current astrological influences written by Leah Whitehorse.

    February 16, 2023

      A strong karmic overtone is in the air. With Mercury’s square to the Nodes, we’re pressed to address a skipped step, a missed conversation or connection that is vital for our evolutionary journey. Independent thought, without rejection of the perspectives of others, is important now. Talk about your past, what you found difficult, what you overcame. Free your mind to move forwards.

      Today is the last time that the Sun will meet Saturn in Aquarius for almost 30 years. This then is the jewel in the crown of this transit, the illumination of ancient teachings, the foundation stone of innovative changes. Maybe we now understand the lesson, get a sense of a greater pattern or receive a glimpse of the future, a hint of things to come. Sitting at the feet of the Great Architect we learn that we have an integral part to play in the world. Step into your authority. Shoulder responsibilities with grace. Commit to your soul’s journey. You are capable. You are wise.

    On February 14, 2022, Leah wrote about the US Pluto Return:

      Pluto is a symbol for profound change, regeneration, cleansing. It is the phoenix born from the ashes, death and rebirth. As ruler of the underworld, Pluto rules all those things that are unseen. The unseen might be treasure – like diamonds and precious metals that form deep in the earth. Or the unseen might be crime, abuse, theft, the sleazy stuff that goes on behind closed doors.

    More from Stillness Speaks, by Eckhart Tolle:

      Throughout history humans have inflicted countless violent, cruel, and hurtful acts on each other, and continue to do so. Are they all to be condemned; are they all guilty? Or are those acts simply expressions of unconsciousness, an evolutionary stage that we are now growing out of?

      Jesus’ words, “Forgive them for they do not know what they do,” also apply to yourself.

      Silence is essential to remain loud and clear.

      My silence inspires me to find my own voice.

      Silence is the environment and atmosphere, the sacred vacuum into which God speaks.

      Silent people have the loudest hearts.

    In simple terms: Anything we did not totally clean up previously is getting stirred up. Everybody is going to be uneasy. We are going to experience anger. We can’t get out of it. Denial, projection, rationalization – none of the psychological defense mechanisms will protect us from Pluto. Because Pluto won’t let anything be hidden any more!

  • Invite to Arise and Allow to Dissolve

    The days feel a bit otherworldly since hurricane Ian paid a visit to our seasonal paradise in St. James City on Pine Island, Florida. Devastation is the best descriptor. The island has been deemed “uninhabitable” for the unforeseeable future with no power, water, sewer, or emergency services.

    The sense of loss comes in concentric circles. The smallest circle is the interruption to our coveted winter life-style. Then to the homeowners, and finally to those whose only home is (was) there. The island is also home to so much wildlife that must be shocked as well. Bald Eagle, the Gopher Tortoise, the Pileated Woodpecker, the Great Blue Heron, to name just a few.

    We received a video after our homeowner made it to ground zero yesterday. The damage is overwhelming. So many of our friends are affected. John’s shuffleboard buddy called to say they are not coming back. “We are too old, and I am too tired,” Richie said. Again, those circles.

    We view the damage from a safe distance within the comfort of our tiny house here in Michigan.

    Our grandson, Brad, drove to Florida from Tennessee with donated supplies to assist his dad in Englewood, who lost a roof. It is estimated that 90-95 percent of homes in that community were damaged. Brad’s paternal grandparent’s home was a total loss, like so many others we know and love.

    I realized it feels like going through the grand letting go that happens for us all at the time of death, but we are going through it now without leaving our bodies.

    I appreciate that a friend sent a passage from Eckhart Tolle’s Stillness Speaks: “Death is not the opposite of life. Life has no opposite. The opposite of death is birth. Life is eternal.” (p. 103)

    Betty Lue Lieber (my beloved teacher and friend who founded the interfaith ordination program of Reunion I was ordained through) sent the Daily Quote from Abraham Hicks:

      You cannot be less than you are now. You cannot achieve a vibration that is less than the vibration that you have achieved. That’s why when someone achieves an empire and then something happens where it is lost or destroyed, they still have the vibration that they’ve achieved, and the empire will come back again—you see it all the time—because it is the vibrational status that the Universe is responding to, not the financial status.

      Excerpted from Philadelphia, PA on 5/7/03

      Our Love
      Esther (Abraham and Jerry)

    This morning when my sister, Janis, and I turned over our 2022 Magic Eye Calendar to October we saw myriad animals — including buffalo, bear, deer, eagle, and feather. It is a very BUSY image. Key words that came to mind are Native American; Mother Earth; and Nature.

    The underneath (3D image) is simply two sets of human hands coming down on to two drums. We both thought: Heart beat of the earth.

    There is soooooo much going on on the surface, but underneath we can feel hopeful. First Janis said it felt hopeful, but then the word ENCOURAGING came to mind.

    Reading on in Stillness Speaks:

      People tend to be uncomfortable with endings, because every ending is a little death. That’s why in many languages, the word for “good-bye” means “see you again.”

      Whenever an experience comes to an end — a gathering of friends, a vacation, your children leaving home — you die a little death. A “form” that appeared in y9ur consciousness as that experience dissolves. Often this leaves behind a feeling of emptiness that most people try hard not to face.

      If you can learn to accept and even welcome the endings in your life, you may find that the feeling of emptiness that initially felt uncomfortable turns into a sense of inner spaciousness that is deeply peaceful.

      By learning to die daily in this way, you open yourself to Life. (p. 106-107)

    Two experiences from my past come to mind. The first was when the entire lower level at Holistic Alliance was flooded with grey water. That was a total BEING of awareness that what would be would be. Like Doris Day’s singing Qué será, será, whatever will be, will be; the future’s not ours to see; Qué será, será.

    The second was the night I unknowingly ate food containing shellfish while I was in Thailand and I became violently ill. I was alone with no way to get any help. After the vomiting and diarrhea slowed to where I could crawl to the bedroom and lie down, I turned on my Everlasting Peace CD fully aware whatever will be, will be. If I was going to die, I wanted to live until then in everlasting peace.

    This morning, Aaron’s words point to a new way of navigating this feeling of emptiness.

    There is nothing to create; there is nothing to destroy. There is only the power that is inherent in your essence, which is the essence of All That Is, the power of love that is able to fully invite that which is wholesome and release that which is unwholesome. To create and to destroy are 3rd density concepts; invite to arise and allow to dissolve are 4th density concepts. Are you ready for it? ~ Aaron

  • Time Means Nothing at All


    Time has a way of slipping through our fingers. Looking back, we ask where it has gone. Of course, time means nothing at all.

    A woman who lived with us for several years had an old cassette with a song by that title. It was so long ago I don’t honestly know who did that or what the rest of the words are in her version, but I found a powerful song by that title by Lisa Mitchell.

    “Time Means Nothing At All” Click on the title to listen, or just read the lyrics.

    Do you know that I spend my days,
    walking the streets and lanes,
    looking through window panes,
    in and out of quaint cafes.

    Me and myself,
    we have an ongoing war,
    there is an ongoing love affair,
    giving up, keeping score.

    Well I hope that we find each other,
    before I lose myself,
    I hope that you get to me,
    before my own world does.

    See, me and myself,
    we have an ongoing war,
    there is an ongoing love affair,
    giving up, keeping score.

    And time means nothing at all,
    our minds are stronger than we give them credit for,
    Distance means nothing at all.

    Do you know that I spend my days,
    walking the streets and lanes,
    looking through window panes,
    in and out of quaint cafes.

    Me and myself,
    we have an ongoing war,
    there is an ongoing love affair,
    giving up, keeping score.

    Well I hope that we find each other,
    before I lose myself,
    I hope that you get to me,
    before my own world does.

    See, me and myself,
    we have an ongoing war,
    there is an ongoing love affair,
    giving up, keeping score.

    And time means nothing at all,
    our minds are stronger than we give them credit for,
    Distance means nothing at all.

    Most interesting to me is the timing of my remembering this. Last evening a friend shared the work of Ross Rosenberg: Narcissism, Co-dependence, and the Self-love Deficit Disorder. Wow…. Rosenberg has established new definitions of some challenging personality problems.

    For example, “Self-love Deficit Disorder” is his term for co-dependency. You can appreciate that these issues are on continuum. As you learn in Psychology 101, it is easy to see yourself in the descriptions of the pathology wherever you are on his “continuum of self” theory. Rosenberg addresses a pathological loneliness that fuels a pull to relationships that don’t work but are difficult to extricate yourself from. In one interview, he uses a term I had never heard of, Gaslighting.

    Gaslighting is best understood in the 1944 film of that name starring Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. Gaslighting is a manipulative, conscious, malicious covert strategy which convinces another they have a problem that does not truly exist.

    We can all benefit from an awareness of who and how we really are. Non-pathological levels of narcissism and co-dependency exist in each of us and being able to see what triggers us is crucial to being genuinely healthy. We can identify real problems we have had relating and choose to be self-loving enough to navigate our relationships honestly and skillfully.

    We all have a history, and most of us were gaslit, but when it comes to developing true self-love time means nothing at all…

    (See Psychology Today: 7-Stages of Gaslighting in Relationship)