Today is the “anniversary” of the January 6, 2021 insurrection on the US Capitol. As the US Justice Department continues to investigate and hold those accountable for their actions of domestic terrorism, it seems like a good day to reflect on the two worlds in which we are living.
The First World is where I, and many of my companions, friends, clients, students, and community members are choosing (have trained ourselves) to live:
The World of Unity and Love
This world exists BEYOND the trappings of the (other) world which is rooted in fear, power, oppression, and control. The World of Unity and Love exists BEYOND the imprisonment of Capitalism and all the rules that have kept that beast alive:
Fear Power Oppression and Control
The “other” world is that which has been built on fear, power, oppression, and control. Capitalism rules that world with its rules that make rich men richer, on the backs of the working class and poor. The “other” world is defined by separation and division, creating a perception of “us vs. them.” It is only out of such a world that events like the insurrection can happen.
The World of Unity and Love co-exists with the world of division but is not of that world. Being not of the world of division, allows those choosing Love to observe the divided world through an objective lens without getting dragged into the emotional reactions typical in division. It also allows us to disengage from the ongoing conflict and chaos of the divided world. We may see it, even become angered or saddened by it, but it doesn’t have to destroy our life.
Instead, we might look with compassion on those who are choosing division because they don’t yet know how to love.
Living in the World of Unity and Love is not escapism. Instead, it is a kind of Divine activism. Here we demonstrate to the divided world that Unity and Love are possible. That compassion is a strength, and empathy is a superpower. That harmony in a diverse world is possible and that in fact, diversity can be celebrated for the beauty it brings into our world. That the drive for peace is fueled by the search for understanding and that
PEACE IS POSSIBLE.
As we reflect on the events of January 6, 2021, let us ask ourselves, which world do we really want to live in?
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Taking Back Our Power to Choose For the past 5000 years our world has been imprisoned by those who benefit from a people afraid. For 5000 years, we have been conditioned by institutions that manipulate and control us through fear, guilt and shame. Religious institutions, governments, corporations, banks, advertising, social media, education, health care, pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry (to name a few) are all guilty of benefiting from a people afraid. As has always been true of feudal societies, only a few truly benefit from a culture rooted in fear. The rest are made to suffer while those who are manipulating us are getting rich at our expense.
When we stop believing in these fears by healing the conditioning that caused these fears in the first place, we are no longer vulnerable to manipulation and are free to choose love instead of fear. In choosing love, we are able to experience the peace, freedom and union spoken of by the ancients and which has been taught by the highest expression of every spiritual tradition on this planet.
It is time that we say NO MORE by taking back our power to choose by healing our wounds and transcending cultural conditioning.
Authentic Freedom empowers you to TAKE YOUR POWER BACK!
I am super excited to announce that my latest book, Choosing Love – Lessons and Practices for Personal and Global Transformation is now available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions.
Choosing Love is a collection of fifty-two spiritual lessons and practices for personal and global transformation. These lessons and practices invite you to shake off the cloak of cultural conditioning and discover the freedom of the LOVE hidden within. Here there is no God to appease, no outside perceived authority whose approval needs to be earned, and nothing that can keep you from being and living as your most authentic self. LOVE is who you are. Choose that LOVE.
Beloved Partnership is a term that has been alternatively associated with concepts such as soulmate or twin flame. Beloved Partnership is neither of these. Beloved Partnership has nothing to do with the human pursuit of external love.
Instead, the longing for Beloved Partnership and its resulting pursuit can only be satisfied from within.
The journey of Beloved Partnership has been portrayed throughout history in legend, myth, and fairytale. The story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is one such tale – one that institutional religion would like to ignore, and which popular culture has turned into a romance. Whether Mary Magdalene and Jesus of Nazareth enjoyed a romantic partnership is immaterial to the Beloved Partnership that they both embodied within themselves.
This course explores Beloved Partnership as the process of human self-realization reflected in the embodiment of the Beloved within as it was achieved through both Mary, called Magdalene, and Jesus, called Christ.
Beloved Partnership is nothing short of the embodiment of that which some might call God.
is a Priestess of the Magdalene and the founder of both the Order of the Magdalene and the Temple of the Magdalene. Lauri has been a dedicated student of the Magdalene since first experiencing her portrayal in the rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar in 1978. Lauri has since studied every scholarly work that has been made available on the Magdalene, and many works of fiction. Lauri has come to believe that Mary Magdalene was indeed Jesus’ closest disciple, possibly his wife, and that it was Mary who was ordained to continue Jesus’ mission of transforming the world from fear into love. Rejected by the patriarchy, the Magdalene influence has flourished in the mystical traditions of Christianity, though few would acknowledge this. The Magdalene has been a profound influence in Lauri’s own mission and has been the inspiration for Lauri’s writings, books, teachings and online courses all available through Authentic Freedom Academy.
Lauri Ann Lumby has her BBA in Marketing, a master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology and has certificates in Pastoral Ministry and Spiritual Direction. She is a Reiki Master in both the Usui and Karuna traditions and is an ordained interfaith minister.
From the introduction to my upcoming live course:Mary Magdalene and the Path of Beloved Partnership:
I cannot say exactly when my search began, but for as long as I can remember, I have felt (what I now know to be) the longing that fuels the search for beloved partnership. It was both a longing and a deep inner knowing of a “love” that was deep, abiding, honest, loyal, supportive, and uplifting. In hindsight, I experienced glimpses of this love during the times of silent prayer. But mostly, I was inclined to look outside of myself for that love – primarily in the search for “the one” with whom I would enjoy the fairytale “happily ever after.”
Happily Ever After eluded me, even in marriage. As my marriage was falling apart, dreams of this elusive love resurfaced, becoming more potent and urgent. I began having dreams of “the one” and visions of “him” while in prayer. This “one” took on the appearance of any number of Jesus-looking men and started showing up in movies, television, advertisements, etc. Along with “hot Jesus,” a woman cloaked in red began to make her appearance. She revealed herself as Mary, called Magdalene, who I somewhat already knew through my academic studies.
All of this was happening as I was experiencing the most profound emotional and spiritual crisis of my life. The Universe had pulled the rug out from under my feet, and I was in the throes of clinical depression and spiritual collapse. Through the help of a therapist and my spiritual director, I was brought back to the practices I had learned in my ministry training and began a deep, soul-eviscerating dive into the wounded areas of my Soul and began stitching myself back together.
As I was stitching, my marriage came to an end, and I began the search for the “one.” I continued to believe in a “love out there” that would make me happy, whole, and complete. In this I turned to the romantic ideas of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as ones who have lived and modeled the external love I imagined.
The “one” I dreamed of never came. Instead, what arose out of that search was the profound realization that the love I was seeking for “out there” could only be found within. This is the love that Jesus described as the kingdom of God and which both he and Mary Magdalene embodied in what gnostic scripture refers to as anthropos. This is the love that I have been seeking, nurturing, and cultivating since 1999 when the foundation of my life began its collapse.
As demonstrated by both Jesus and Mary Magdalene, Beloved Partnership is Union with the Divine within. In this Union, we come to know the Love that we are in Union with our Source. In this we know that there is no separation between ourselves and Source. Who and what we are, and our purpose in this life, is to be the full embodiment of the Divine who lives in and dwells through us – through our own unique giftedness and calling.
At 57, I cannot claim to have fully realized Beloved Partnership within, but I am much closer than I ever have been. With this I feel I have the experience and wisdom to share what I have learned of this journey while providing a map for those who have heard a similar calling.
Mary Magdalene and the Path of Beloved Partnership LIVE/online course begins January 17, 2022
Beloved Partnership is a term that has been alternatively associated with concepts such as soulmate or twin flame. Beloved Partnership is neither of these. Beloved Partnership has nothing to do with the human pursuit of external love.
Instead, the longing for Beloved Partnership and its resulting pursuit can only be satisfied from within.
The journey of Beloved Partnership has been portrayed throughout history in legend, myth, and fairytale. The story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is one such tale – one that institutional religion would like to ignore, and which popular culture has turned into a romance. Whether Mary Magdalene and Jesus of Nazareth enjoyed a romantic partnership is immaterial to the Beloved Partnership that they both embodied within themselves.
This course explores Beloved Partnership as the process of human self-realization reflected in the embodiment of the Beloved within as it was achieved through both Mary, called Magdalene, and Jesus, called Christ.
Beloved Partnership is nothing short of the embodiment of that which some might call God.
is a Priestess of the Magdalene and the founder of both the Order of the Magdalene and the Temple of the Magdalene. Lauri has been a dedicated student of the Magdalene since first experiencing her portrayal in the rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar in 1978. Lauri has since studied every scholarly work that has been made available on the Magdalene, and many works of fiction. Lauri has come to believe that Mary Magdalene was indeed Jesus’ closest disciple, possibly his wife, and that it was Mary who was ordained to continue Jesus’ mission of transforming the world from fear into love. Rejected by the patriarchy, the Magdalene influence has flourished in the mystical traditions of Christianity, though few would acknowledge this. The Magdalene has been a profound influence in Lauri’s own mission and has been the inspiration for Lauri’s writings, books, teachings and online courses all available through Authentic Freedom Academy.
Lauri Ann Lumby has her BBA in Marketing, a master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology and has certificates in Pastoral Ministry and Spiritual Direction. She is a Reiki Master in both the Usui and Karuna traditions and is an ordained interfaith minister.
In 2016, I penned an article addressing the HUGE issue of teen suicide. At that writing, 5 of my children’s peers had died by suicide. Over the years this number jumped to more than 10 and as of this week, we are up to 15 or more!
Our Kids are NOT ALRIGHT!
In my original post (highlights below), I mentioned several contributors to suicide among teens and young adults, along with some ideas for support. Today, our world has only gotten worse. Our kids are not alright because
Our world is not alright!
More specifically,
THE UNITED STATES IS NOT ALRIGHT!
We are living in a nation that has been at war with itself over a division that increases every time we find (or someone convinces us there is) something new to fight about. The list is endless:
Politics
Vaccines
Masks
Guns
Women’s Reproductive Rights.
Gender
Sex
Orientation
Race
Add to this a dying economy, a dying republic, the death of democratic process, a dying healthcare system, a long past dead education system (by no fault of the educators), the increasing separation between the haves and the have nots and the decreasing accessibility to meaningful work with a sustainable wage, all while trying to navigate the ever-changing (and volatile) waters of a global pandemic.
No wonder our kids are anxious, panicked, and depressed!
Our kids are not alright, and if we believe they are, we’re fooling ourselves. I personally have no idea how to respond to the dying world, except to let it die and hope that something better will be coming forth out of the ash. But our kids deserve so much more than what our world has become. They also deserve more consideration than what we have been giving them. Is this the kind of world we want to leave our children? Don’t they deserve more than a nation always at war with itself and each other? Don’t they deserve what we once thought of as the “American Dream?” Can we just for this moment worry less about whether wearing masks are an infringement on our personal freedoms and more about our children and what they might need to feel safe in this very uncertain world?
Lauri Ann Lumby is the mother of two young adults who have seen too many of their peers die by suicide. Lauri is also a professional spiritual counselor to has supported those suffering loss and mentored individuals on the journey of self-actualization since 1995. Lauri can be reached directly via email: lauri@lauriannlumby.com.
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Highlights from 2016 post:
This week, another one of my daughter’s classmates committed suicide. This young woman is the fifth in a graduating class of 200-some students to commit suicide. Something here is wrong. Very wrong…..
The problem, and the reason our kids are not alright is: Our world.
Our world is a mess. Our world is a mess for all of us – and for some of us, it is just too much to bear. Let’s look at the facts:
For as long as our children have been alive, THE WORLD HAS BEEN AT WAR.
If it’s not a conflict or a war with a name, (Desert Storm, Iraqi, Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine, etc. etc. etc.) it is “the war on terrorism.” And the worst of all the terrorist attacks have been accomplished right here on our own soil by our own U.S. citizens. The media does not help in this regard by triggering our fears through sensationalism. As my son said, “Hundreds of people a year are shot in Chicago and no one cares, but as soon as one guy gets shot in Oshkosh, the whole world is in a state of panic.” (This also points to media and racial bias which is a topic for another blog another day.)
For our children – the world does not feel safe.
In the U.S. success is determined by external measurements like money, status, power and fame. And some of these measurements are literal – how much money you make, how many time you are Tweeted or your Facebook post gets “liked,” if you have your own reality show or not, and do you measure up to the current standards of “beauty.” For those who do not know their true selves and who have no way of knowing themselves except in comparison to others, success feels like an impossible goal – especially when they look at the TRUTH of our economic situation – which brings me to #3
Education does not mean what it used to. In the old days, a high school education was enough to prepare you for a regular job with a decent rate of pay. Then, college became the necessary gateway to a career, a paycheck and economic security. Then, a master’s degree became the gateway, then a PhD. Now….none of this really matters – and our children know this. A college degree guarantees you nothing, or as a friend of mine told her daughter, “Do what you love because there won’t be any jobs for you after college anyway.” Bleak, but true. As much as politicians are touting the economic recovery and that the “recession is over,” this is not the truth.
The world as we know it is dying. Our children know this and they know that they will be the ones who will be creating the new world. For some, this is just too overwhelming a task. Imagine, for a moment, that you are a player in the Hunger Games and the entire world (as you have known it) crumbles at your feet and you are left with the task of building the new world. While the endless possibilities and the excitement of building something new is enticing for some, for others, it is overwhelming and feels impossible and they shut down under the burden of the task.
And finally….this is the whoo whoo part…..our children are empaths. What this means is that not only are they feeling their own anxiety in the face of a world that is a mess, they are feeling EVERYONE ELSE’S anxiety. They feel the anxiety of their parents, their siblings, their classmates, their teachers, and the entire world around them. When there is a terrorist attack on the other side of the world, they feel it – maybe not consciously, but they feel it. When a weather system is moving through that will cause people anxiety, they know it – again, maybe not consciously, but they feel it. For those that don’t understand the gift of empathy and who don’t have tools for managing this gift, the emotions come out sideways – temper tantrums, disproportionate negative behavior, anxiety, depression – and you guessed it, suicide.
Which brings me full-circle. I don’t know what caused that young woman to jump off the bridge into a freezing and raging river to her death. What I do know is that her death is another wake up call for us as parents, teachers, and other adults.
Our children need our help. While we cannot change the outside world, there are things we can do to help our children, and in helping them, find help for ourselves in a messy and broken down world:
Lead them to resources to help them manage anxiety. Resources that have been proven to help manage anxiety include: meditation, mindfulness, regular exercise, a healthy diet, adequate and deep sleep, creativity exercises, being in nature, being with others in healthy community interactions.
Support them in knowing their TRUE selves. Self-knowledge increases self-esteem, confidence, and the ability to be ok with our differences in a world of great diversity.
Help them develop a different set of values. This starts with us. We need to stop valuing ourselves in terms of money, fame, status, power, and physical characteristics. What we are wearing, whose bag we are carrying and what car we are driving DOES NOT MATTER. These external measurements of “success” or “popularity” do not give us happiness. In fact, all they do is create more ANXIETY. If we want our children to be comfortable in a world that will NOT have the resources in which everyone can be a Kardashian, we have to help them find value in the internals – peace, contentment, joy, and fulfillment in knowing and exercising their gifts. We then need to give them tools for finding this inner peace which leads us back to items 1 and 2.
Support them in their dreams. Our children see and know the new world. They see a world that is free from the separation with which we have defined the world. Instead of separation, they see only oneness. They do not comprehend the separation we keep placing between ourselves and others we view as different from us. Our children do not see race, religion, sexual orientation, or even gender as barriers, they only see this as the miraculous and amazing diversity among human beings and they seek to know more and to honor these differences. Let’s get out of the way and let them do this, shall we!?
Teach them what to do with Empathy. This is where the whoo whoo community can help. Empaths are healers and those with this gift (all of our children) possess this gift because they are here to heal our dying world so that a healthier and happy world can emerge. Our children need to know what to do with these feelings and how to stop taking responsibility for everyone else’s pain. Interestingly, this also brings us back to items 1 and 2.
While we cannot change the world, we can change the world in which we are living and the journey starts within. Let us join together to help our children, and in helping our children, helping ourselves so that we can survive in a world in the midst of change and through our children’s dreams, help to support the birth of a new and better world. Then perhaps these children would not have died in vain.
Authentic Freedom Academy provides empowerment training for those who want to change their world, which starts by changing the world within.
Good Lord this has been a year! For those with whom I am in close contact, including myself, 2021 has been the year of letting go, letting go, and then letting go some more. I can’t speak for others, but at this point, I’m not sure there’s anything left for me to let go.
Let me confirm that letting go does NOT bring on a sensation of peace. Instead, we are left with a great sense of unease. As we stare into what has become an empty vessel, we are struck with three things:
Grief over what has passed away.
An anxious desire to fill in those empty spaces.
Sheer terror over the possibility that the emptiness might be the end of all things (or in my case that everything I have done has been for naught and that I will have to go out and find a “real job.” UGH!).
To grieve is appropriate. As we gaze over what has passed out of our lives and what we have intentionally released, sorrow will come. As will every other face of grief. Bargaining most of all as we reach for those things we’ve released, hoping to find security in returning them to the now empty vessel. What we have let go of, however, cannot return. Instead, we are invited to be present to the sorrow, secure in the hope that something new will come to take its place.
Anxiety is also appropriate. What was known provided a sense of security and surety in our lives. If nothing else, it provided the illusion of security simply because it was known. As we release what is no longer life-giving, or it is torn from our clutching fingers, our first instinct is to call it back. When it cannot be called back, our second instinct is to find something to replace it – even if that something is of our own contriving and may have nothing to do with our highest good. We just want to fill the empty space. The answer to this anxiety is simple: DON’T DO IT! Instead, become comfortable with the anxiety. UGH!
Emptiness is a kind of death. What we have known has come to an end and the new has not yet come into form. Despite our attempts at seeking out or even forcing the new, the new will only arrive in the hands of Divine Timing. Terror comes when we are faced with this level of unknown. With this there is literally nothing we can do but stare into the face of the unknown and FEEL its terror.
This is where we find ourselves at the end of 2021 – staring in terror into the face of the unknown. It’s ok to feel anxiety and fear. Allowing ourselves to be with this terror is good medicine. The more we allow ourselves to be with the terror of the unknown and sit in its company, the more we discover there’s really nothing to fear. The purpose of terror is to remind us of the illusion of control – likely the final thing we cling to. When we let go of our need to control and the illusion that we ever had any in the first place, then, only then, will we find peace.
Lauri Ann Lumby is currently scheduling mentoring sessions starting the second week of January. Email lauri@lauriannlumby.com to schedule your session today.
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In anticipation for the latest installment of the Matrix movie series, I have re-watched the first three films. If you haven’t yet watched the original Matrix movie, WATCH IT NOW. It has much to say about where we are as a species and the opportunity we have to choose life OUTSIDE THE MATRIX.
To understand life outside the Matrix, we must first define life within the Matrix. As Morpheus so clearly stated: The Matrix was created for the purpose of control.
Identifying life inside the Matrix is simple:
The Matrix is everything we have been told to believe and everyway we have been conditioned to act or respond by an outside perceived authority.
Let me offer a few simple examples of life inside the Matrix from our Western patriarchal hierarchical capitalistic culture:
Measuring success by money, power, status, fame, possessions, accomplishments.
Being told our value is defined by how hard and how many hours we work.
The idea that hard work leads to “success” (as it is defined above).
Being conditioned to believe it’s our job to make other people happy.
Expected compliance.
Obedience (to the outside perceived authority).
Competition. Period.
The idea that rest/restoration/self-care = laziness.
Being “lazy” is bad.
The Matrix does not want what is best for us. It wants what benefits them.
Exiting the Matrix begins with listening to our own inner guidance (the voice of self-love) instead of the outside perceived authority (which is entirely rooted in fear, power, oppression, and control). We must turn away from all those outside voices that want to dictate who we are and how we should live. Shouldis the easiest way to identify if the voice we are listening to is of the Matrix. Our highest/true self NEVER uses the word should! Instead, our true self guides us on the path of our truth – the path that is in our highest good and in alignment with LOVE. Love of self. Love of others. Love of all creation.
Living outside the Matrix looks a little bit like this:
Taking time each day to tune into our highest self (what some might call “God”). It is here we find clear direction, guidance, and knowledge of the path of our highest good.
Cultivating, practicing, and honing discernment – the process through which we can clearly distinguish the voice of our truth vs. the voice of the Matrix.
Saying yes to the guidance of our Soul. Saying NO to the shoulds of the Matrix.
Uncompromisingly adhering to the voice of our own inner guidance.
Refusing to be swayed by the outside voices of control (shoulds).
Turning off outside influences created by the Matrix (advertising, marketing, social media, “news” sources, etc.).
Become aware that all is not as it may seem. Even your “enlightened” teacher and favorite conspiracy theorist could be constructions of the Matrix. (anything to which you give authority over your own inner truth).
Living outside the Matrix is as simple as choice. In the movies, the choice is represented by the red and blue pill. The blue pill keeps you enslaved to the Matrix. The red pill frees you. As Morpheus said: “I have shown you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.”
What are you going to choose?
Lauri Ann Lumby supports you in creating a life outside the Matrix. Learn more HERE.
I am beginning to think the “wait” and “waiting” are two of the worst and least helpful words in the English language. Even more problematic is the oft-understood connotation around this concept:
Waiting implies there is something/someone better for us…
OUT THERE!
Waiting for our beloved.
Waiting for a better job/better relationship/better house/better car/ better……everything.
Waiting for that one thing we think we want that we equally think we don’t have.
Waiting for our purpose and calling.
Waiting for success, fame, wealth, etc. etc. etc.
Waiting for societal change.
Waiting for the fall of the empire.
Waiting for the end of racism, sexism, genderism, nationalism, etc. etc. etc.
Waiting for “the Day of the Lord.”
Waiting for our savior.
Waiting for the second coming.
How much of our time do we spend hoping, dreaming, wishing, pondering, thinking, and waiting for “something better” to come into our lives and into our world. This is an especially potent question in the world of those who call themselves Christian as we are in the season of Advent – THE time of waiting.
What are we waiting for that we don’t already have right here and right now!? Jesus never promised us better days, better times, or a better humanity. Instead, he said over and over and over again that what we seek can only be found within and in THIS PRESENT MOMENT.
Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst (within and among you).”
Luke 17: 20-21
The truth that Jesus spoke is the same truth echoed by every other great spiritual leader. There is nothing outside of us worth waiting for. Everything that we are seeking can be found within. Instead of waiting, we need only turn within and there we will find exactly what we seek.
What are you waiting for? Just do it!
Seeking within begins with a sound spiritual practice. If you don’t yet have one or your current practice needs a booster shot, check out this course:
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Lauri Ann Lumby 