Undoing Conditioning

The Big Sorting

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

I’m day four into recovering from laparoscopic abdominal surgery and I finally have some energy to put some recent observations of the world and my/our place in it in writing.

This is a strange time. To put it into the simplest of terms, humanity is involved in a massive kind of sorting – the likes of which I’m not sure we’ve ever seen. As is always the case with human beings, but even more so now with the reality of global communication, this sorting is happening on both the micro and macro levels. At the heart of this sorting is the question of choice – are we (individually and as a collective) choosing truth or falsehood.

Between our human conditioning, past woundings, and the collective distribution of falsehoods, the choice is not easy. Making the choice even more challenging is the reality that in the dualistic world in which we’ve been living, success and advancement are often achieved through deception; and because human beings find hype and tabloid delivery entertaining and exciting, it is what most commonly sells.

Truth, on the other hand, doesn’t sell.

Case in point: Since the age of 12, I have been a devoted student of the Magdalene. I have read every scholarly work out there, and studied the research of every scholar. What we can discern as plausible truth about the Magdalene is actually pretty boring. Based on available research, the Magdalene was most likely an ordinary Jewish woman who found herself drawn to a traveling preacher and who became enraptured by his teachings. Ancient texts confirm that she was likely Jesus’ most devoted student and the one who most wholly absorbed his deepest teachings. She was taught in secret because she grasped things the other disciples did not. She was the one chosen to be witness to (maybe even facilitated) Jesus’ resurrection and deliver the news to the other disciples. After Jesus’ resurrection, it is possible that she traveled to share Jesus’ message and teachings of Love. Where she went is under some debate though there are enough local legends to support the possibility that she went to Egypt, France, and possibly Ephesus and less possibly Britain. That is not to say, however, that her disciples didn’t carry her message to these far-flung places. It was said that Mary was intimate with Jesus – but whether that was sexual, or merely a beloved spiritual partnership, we will never know. We will also never know if Mary and Jesus had a child. I’m not opposed to this idea, but there is really nothing to prove it one way or another. Like I said, boring. There’s really nothing special here, which is partly why I suspect the version of the Magdalene that I stand by doesn’t sell. I don’t use flashy words or popular new age terminology in reference to the Magdalene because there is nothing scholarly or academic to support it. Are any of those versions of the Magdalene possible – sure.  But until science proves otherwise, they are not truth.

Which brings me back to my point about the big sorting. Together we are experiencing a time of great sorting, and together, it is our choices which will determine the future course of humanity. Will we continue to be a species living from agreements and systems rooted in falsehoods and deceptions, or will we together be advocates of truth?

My choice is and has always been truth. And believe me, truth has cost me. My commitment to truth makes it impossible for me to fit into the current system. I literally become physically ill when in the company of deceivers, liars, and systems that lie. Everything in me wants to scream when I discover corruption or deception in an institution with which I am affiliated. Repeatedly, I have had to leave institutions behind because of the lies they refuse to see for themselves, or for which they are actually proud. As a result, I have had to stand alone in a little place I’ve carved out for myself. The good news is that where I was once alone, I now find myself surrounded by an increasingly growing network of others who find themselves equally unable to abide by the deception and corruption of the dying world and who want only to stand on the side of truth and love.

I also find myself increasingly aware of those who continue to choose falsehood. This is the personal part of the sorting. This part is difficult. It’s one thing to stand in our own truth, it’s another to watch someone we care for choose deception and falsehood because it benefits them in some way. It’s not our job to change their choice.  All we can do is be witness to their choice. Grieve the disappointment we might feel and let them be.

Here’s the nitty gritty of things. For me, this big sorting is all about witness consciousness.  As it relates to the world, I watch, I observe, I wait. I make note of the deceptions and the way falsehoods are delivered and I observe who buys into them. Equally, I watch for those who see through the deceptions and corruptions to the deeper truths waiting to be revealed. I refrain from challenging, confronting, or pointing out that “the emperor has no clothes,” trusting that the system itself is in its own kind of sorting. Humanity is sorting itself out. On a personal basis, it is observing what and who in my life are rooted in truth and what may not be and deciding how I want to engage with that, or not. At this writing, the sorting is still taking place with no definitive answers about what is staying or what needs to go. I’m also aware that the time for decisions is not yet ripe so I continue to wait and watch. The truth will show itself when its time is right and no sooner than that.

To me, the Magdalene was the one who most wholly absorbed the depth of Jesus’ teachings on Love. These teachings, are ultimately about discovering our own Truth and then moving through the inner obstacles to living that Truth. Abraham Maslow called the fulfillment of that journey “Self-Actualization.” It is for this reason that my Magdalene formation program is about personal growth and self-discovery.

Learn more HERE

Undoing Toxic Capitalistic Conditioning

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 2 Comments

I am not afraid to publicly admit my vulnerability or share my woundedness. I have observed that in being open and transparent, others are often able to find healing themselves, or at the very least validation for their own feelings and experiences.

Most recently, the thing with which I am most struggling is my sense of failure and shame over where I find myself in my life. Nowhere in my life have I succeeded in the ways in which we are measured or judged in a capitalistic society. I’ve never been given opportunities for wealth. I’ve never had enough discretionary income to save or invest. I don’t have a wall full of awards. I’m not popular in the capitalistic sense of popularity. I’ve never even been “Almost Famous.”

Instead, the opportunities I’ve been given led me to a kind of calling that cannot be measured through externals but only by what is within. At one time, I received validation, affirmation, support, praise and even a sort of notoriety through said-calling, but even that was taken from me (rather, I chose obedience to a calling over obedience to an institution).

Since leaving the institution of the Catholic Church, I’ve been out in the world doing what I have felt called to do. But as of this moment, even this seems to be falling away. Instead of having something somewhat tangible to hold, I find myself doing work to pay my bills that in some ways has its own kind of reward, but which strongly suppresses what I consider to be my truest gifts. There is a sense of emptiness and loss as my gifts lay dying on the ground while I’m just trying to survive in a world that was not made for me.

I’m tired. I feel empty. I’m quite close to abandoning any and all hope of fulfillment in the sense that we’ve been conditioned to believe we are deserving of.

One thing I’ve learned in this life is that we don’t deserve shit. Hard work does not equal success. Neither does a so-called Divine calling. But how, really, is Divine Calling measured?

  • Jesus was crucified.
  • Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.
  • Edith Stein was sent to the gas chamber.
  • Maximilian Kolbe died by lethal injection.
  • Gandhi was assassinated.
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
  • Nelson Mandella was imprisoned and tortured.

A Divine Calling provides no guarantees. And yet, for some of us, it seems we have no choice but to follow this so-called Divine path, sacrificing capitalistic rewards for something else.

Today I’m not sure what that “something else” might be. Instead, I feel like I’m drowning in a sense of failure and its accompanying shame. The voice of this shame is continually trying to convince me I did something wrong, I chose the wrong path, and my true gifts don’t really matter. Everyday I feel like I’m bumping up against an impenetrable wall keeping me from my gifts and those who find them to be of value. It’s exhausting and heartbreaking.

And I know I’m not alone. This is why I’m baring my soul. I see you. In know who you are. You are my closest friends and companions who have equally “failed” in the capitalistic sense. You are the intuitives, neurodiverse, visionaries, prophets, and sensitive souls who have found this world simply too much to bear. Many of you struggle with “chronic illness,” in a world for which you were not made. I see you.  I know you.  I’ve heard your stories. Our stories are very much the same.

This too was Jesus’ story and the story of many who followed him:

“I have given them your Word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.”  John 17: 14-16

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” John 18:36

As those who are called to be and do the work of Love in a world that wants to divide through hatred, we, like Jesus, are not of this world. Instead, we are working on a different plane (so to speak). The work we do is vibrational. It is spiritual. It is energetic. It is intangible and subjective. It cannot be measured by either mathematics, physics, or capitalism. While we may know and believe this in the depths of our soul, this does not free us from the conflict between what our hearts know and what the world wants us to believe. This is where our spiritual practice becomes ever-more important. For me it is this:

  1. I first had to recognize the sense of failure and shame – in how it has been coming out sideways, then as it is anchored in my conditioning.
  2. Then, through inner pondering, I had to identify the nature and source of that shame. Where did I learn this? How is it part of my conditioning? How is it proving harmful.
  3. Then, I chose a self-forgiveness practice to support the healing and release of that shame.
  4. This practice is an ongoing work in progress, but I know that and know to have patience with myself as I heal.
  5. I’m also seeing all the ways in which I try to barrel through the pain of this shame and am TRYING to choose self-care and rest over forcing myself to abide by the “rules of survival.”
  6. Then comes the hard part – trusting that as I care for myself my material needs will be taken care of.

This capitalistic world is not made for us. Yet we have spent our entire lives being conditioned by its rules and measures of success. Undoing toxic capitalistic conditioning isn’t easy. But if we feel called to be Love, we have no choice but to transcend the capitalistic conditioning that has kept the entire world imprisoned. In undoing this conditioning, we are freed from this imprisonment, while providing an example that others may one day choose to follow.

Oh….and here’s a great anthem for undoing toxic capitalistic conditioning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwhBRJStz7w

Deepening Your Practic

The Authentic Freedom protocol, created by Lauri Ann Lumby, provides a solid and reliable framework for undoing toxic conditioning and healing our inner spiritual wounds. Into the Wilderness guides you through the in-depth process of learning and applying this process for the sake of your own liberation and freedom.

Learn more HERE

Being Love in a World that Wants to Hate

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

Being Love requires persistence, discipline, personal responsibility, accountability, and courage. Being Love requires vulnerability and humility. Being Love asks us to be willing to admit where we have been wrong, especially when our being wrong has wronged another. Being Love requires forgiveness – forgiveness of self and other – but likely not the kind of forgiveness you learned about in church. Being Love requires commitment along with countless opportunities to re-commit.

Being Love is an inside job. Being Love takes work. Being Love is hard. It is for these reasons, and the ones mentioned above, that so few even attempt, let alone succeed at being Love. This is especially true in a world that wants to be hate and which appears to be overwhelmingly successful in being hate.

Hate is easy. Born out of our instinctual drive to be suspicious of that which is unfamiliar, hate separates and divides in an attempt to keep us safe from the unknown. As reasoning animals, we are supposed to evolve past this drive to separate. Sadly, most have not evolved past this, simply because evolving takes work. Hating is easy. Being Love is hard.

Even with intention, desire, commitment, and drive, being Love is hard. I’ve learned and experienced this in my own life. One of the reasons hatred is so easy is because it feeds us. Hatred allows us to believe we are right and everyone else is wrong. Hatred fills us with a charge that can feel energizing and empowering. Hatred makes us feel powerful. Hatred allows us to feel superior. Hatred creates in us the illusion of being safe from those who have or could cause us harm.

Feeding on hatred, however, is like ingesting poison. Feeding on hatred makes us sick. Many years ago I became aware of the ways in which hatred was harming me. Eventually I decided to stop.  

Deciding to stop was only the first step, however.  From then on, I have dived deeply into researching and applying a multitude of wisdom practices that have helped me move from being hate to being Love.  In applying these practices, this is what I’ve learned:

  1. We cannot just “think” our way into being Love.
  2. Instead, we must go deep within ourselves to the places we have forgotten that we are Love and heal those.
  3. Over and over and over and over and over and over again.
  4. Being Love (and by association forgiveness) has NOTHING to do with “the other,” and everything to do with ourselves.
  5. As we heal the inner obstacles to Love, we are not only healing ourselves, others are healed as well.
  6. Another human’s inability to being Love is none of our business, except as an invitation to being more loving ourselves.
  7. We cannot heal or change anyone but ourselves.
  8. We can despise an individual’s actions while still having Love for them.

This #8 may in fact be the single most important challenge to us as we try to be Love. Every single day we encounter wounded and broken human beings who do not know they are Love. Having never been given a chance, or having never chosen to evolve, they find themselves living solely out of their instinctual center. From this fear center, the only way they know how to function is to divide themselves from that which they perceive as different. It is out of this fear that things like racism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia arise. While our reasoning minds might not be able to understand how someone would purposefully choose hatred, until we evolve beyond our instinctual drives, anything other than hatred might not be a choice. To put it succinctly, hatred is just another word for fear. While we might despise the actions of someone choosing hatred over Love, we can have compassion and love for the wounded human inside of them who doesn’t know any other way to respond to fear.

While responding to fear/hatred with more fear/hatred might be easy, it is not how we bring more Love into our world. The only way for Love to grow is to be Love ourselves. In being Love and continuing to heal the places in ourselves that have forgotten we are Love, we are  providing humanity with an example of what Love looks like which then gives them an opportunity to make another choice.

Being hatred or being Love?  It is a choice.

Being Love begins with self-knowledge.

The Order of the Magdalene Formation Program provides you with resources, knowledge, and tools to support you in your own journey of self-discovery and empowerment. 

Learn more HERE

The Fallacy of Certainty

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

The topic of certainty came up with my daughter the other day as we were sharing news of an acquaintance who had recently joined a certain church. We were both somewhat amazed that a person of intelligence, reason, and critical thinking would enthusiastically embrace a religion that espouses a very narrow interpretation of … well … everything. As my forever wise daughter observed, “Well, trauma will do that.” Indeed.

For me, trauma has had the opposite effect. Instead of seeking after certainty, I run from anything that seems to be promising certainty. Why? Because life has shown me that other than death, absolutely nothing is certain. But then I wonder, is my response due to trauma, or simply the accumulated observations of sixty years?

Some of the life experiences that showed me the falsehood of certainty proved to be traumatic. By and large, however, uncertainty seems to simply be the truth of life. Anyone that would suggest otherwise is either still clinging to an illusion of certainty, or just plain lying.

In life, nothing is certain. We don’t know if we’ll be born, how long we’ll live, from what we will be safe (hunger, disease, poverty, etc.), or when we’ll die. We don’t know where our life path will lead us and we cannot predict, once on a path, if or how we’ll reach its destination – if ever, or if along the way the path might change or simply fall away. Or maybe we reach the hoped-for destination, and it blows up in our face.

Life is funny that way. A whole lot of unknowns with only one truly predictable outcome:

DEATH

No matter how our lives unfold, death is the final destination. It is the only outcome that is certain. The rest is up for grabs. Everyone knows this. And yet……and yet…..everywhere we look there is someone trying to convince us that they have the key to certainty. Religion that claims to be the sole purveyor of truth. Spiritualists who claim to have a monopoly on the afterlife. Gurus who will gladly take your money for the magical blessing that will ensure enlightenment. Healers who claim to own the trademark to what will save you from dying. Physicians who have the remedies to, if not save your life, at least delay your dying. Politicians who make empty promises about a hopeful future. Coaches to shower their athletes with empty dreams of a professional career. Universities who promise an abundance of fulfillment and wealth after completing a course of study. Life-coaches who also claim to hold the keys to fulfilment and wealth. Authors who promise a formula for manifesting what you want, or “calling in the one.”

All of these are pandering to and profiting from humanity’s insecurities and fears – specifically the fear of the unknown – what we might alternatively call “the fear of life itself.”

Life itself is terrifying. It’s unpredictable. Unstable. Often unsafe. We experience suffering and the pain of betrayal. We know the deep grief of loss. We suffer disappointment. We are the witnesses of violence and death.

We know this about life, and yet we persist. The human instinct for survival is STRONG. But so is our tendency toward denial. We don’t like the anxiety and fear that uncertainty brings, so we  look for anything and everything that might promise otherwise. We look for the perfect job, the magic pill, the charismatic teacher, the soulmate, the book, the coach, the healer……or the mountain we are willing to die on, that gives us the promise of certainty and we embrace it enthusiastically, even bringing our friends and family along for the ride. In one way or another we are all guilty of this.  And yet, every single time, that which promises certainty eventually proves itself wrong and we find ourselves staring down the barrel of uncertainty.

This is just part of being human and having a human experience. We are not, however, doomed to this endless cycle of uncertainty, false hope, and disappointment. Instead of seeking after certainty, we can simply accept that life is – uncertain. Once we accept this truth, and learn to be with the anxiety of uncertainty, we can flow through life from a place of contentment and ease. This doesn’t mean we won’t experience anxiety or fear, but we will have the tools to move through the anxiety and return to a place of equanimity where we can simply enjoy where we are in this moment and appreciate the wonder and beauty that life brings despite all of its uncertainty.

Just Say No!

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Revealing the patriarchal wound in American institutions

Regardless of our thoughts on the Trump administration, we cannot deny the way this presidency is revealing the woundedness and corruption of long-cherished American institutions. This woundedness can be summed up in one simple way:

The Trump presidency is showing us how firmly entrenched American institutions are in patriarchy.

While this may be obvious considering that the vast majority of American institutions are founded on a patriarchal/hierarchical model. Patriarchal institutions favor the powerful few while imposing subservience on everyone else.

What has not been so obvious until now is the way in which these patriarchal institutions, and those within these institutions, have allowed themselves to become subservient to the system in which they exist. Patriarchy begets patriarchy with subtle layers of privilege imprisoning those within the very system. Let me point out a few examples:

  1. When the Trump administration ordered the elimination of DEI programs and initiatives, and then Universities and other institutions complied.
  2. When the Trump administration ordered the arrest and deportation of student protestors, and universities (and the Supreme Court) allowed this to happen.
  3. When the Trump administration threatened to deny universities of federal student loan and grant funding, and universities said and did nothing.

These are just three simple examples, all involving universities and colleges. These educational institutions DID NOTHING to stand up for equity and diversity programming, to protect the first amendment, to keep their foreign students safe, or argue against the deprivation of funding upon which they (and their students) rely. They did nothing. Instead, institutions who claim certain values appeared willing to forsake these values simply because someone who appears to be higher than they are on the totem pole of power told them to.

The burning question here is why didn’t they JUST SAY NO!?

The easy answer might be because of money. Each of these orders were accompanied by a threat of financial deprivation. The more subtle answer, and one even more significant than money, is the reality that every single institution who has complied with the president’s orders are patriarchal in nature and structure. The fact that they so readily bowed to threats proves that they are so entrenched in the system that they are willing to forsake the stated values of the institution and the rights of their students in favor of their own place within the system. “Yes sir, Mr. President, go ahead and deport our students, threaten their first-amendment rights, create an environment that deprives people of color, who struggle with disabilities, who don’t fit into “traditional” definitions of gender and sexuality, etc. with opportunities, etc.  Go ahead and do all this and we will stand by and watch and do nothing.”  By kowtowing to the demands of a bully, they secure their place within the system.

By remaining in a system that rules by threats and intimidation, they have made themselves the cause of their own demise.  What is true of every oppressive system is true here. By letting the bully win, you have already lost.

The correct response to oppression, is and has always been to

JUST SAY NO!

On both an individual and macrocosmic level, the path to escaping oppression begins with one single word, and that word is NO. Just say no! To the universities and other institutions receiving orders from the current administration that are accompanied by threats, just say no! Say no to ICE raids. Say no to the elimination of your DEI programs (or maintain the programming and call it something else!  DUH!). Say no to threats against the right to free speech, including the right to protest and peaceful assembly. When threatened with the withholding of federal student loan and grant funding, come together with other educational institutions and file a class-action lawsuit against the president. JUST SAY NO!

The same goes for each and every one of us. We live in a nation in which we have been given certain rights and in which these rights are said to be guaranteed. Stand up for those rights. Say no to threats and intimidation. Say no to those things that threaten the rights of others.

Escaping an oppressive system begins with one simple word, and that word is NO. Just say it!

Under patriarchy we lose:

  •   Access to our own inner authority.
  •   Freedom to discern our own truth and choose our own path.
  •  Belief in ourselves as loveable for exactly who we are without having to seek after acceptance or approval.
  • The power of our own executive functioning as seen in our relentless search for a savior.

In this six-week course, we will explore the ways in which we have been imprisoned by the patriarchy and the subtle ways in which this imprisonment is experienced.

Learn more and enroll HERE

Freeing Yourself from the Patriarchy

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

On-Demand Available Now!

For over five-thousand years, humanity has been imprisoned by patriarchal rule. Under the rule of patriarchy, human beings have been conditioned by fear to be subservient to an outside perceived authority. Under the threat of punishment, and wrapped in a cloak of false promises, humanity has given over its power to a seemingly powerful few.

Under patriarchy, toxic masculinity is the ruling force and privilege is afforded primarily to white men of wealth. All other human beings are then divided into a hierarchy of servitude to the powerful few.

The patriarchy requires:

  • ·         Blind obedience to a self-appointed outside perceived authority.
  • ·         Subservience to this authority.
  • ·         Expectations of duty.
  • ·         Dependency based on false promises of provision and protection.

Under patriarchy we lose:

  • ·         Access to our own inner authority.
  • ·         Freedom to discern our own truth and choose our own path.
  • ·         Belief in ourselves as loveable for exactly who we are without having to seek after acceptance or approval.
  • ·         The power of our own executive functioning as seen in our relentless search for a savior.

In this six-week course, we will explore the ways in which we have been imprisoned by the patriarchy and the subtle ways in which this imprisonment is experienced:

  • ·         In our own lives
  • ·         In our relationships
  • ·         In society
  • ·         In the workplace
  • ·         In our underlying sense of shame or guilt
  • ·         In our conditioned sense of duty
  • ·         In our search to be saved

We will then explore ways in which we can free ourselves from this conditioning.

Six-week online course

This course consists of:

  • ·         Inspirational readings
  • ·         Lessons
  • ·         Contemplation and Reflection
  • ·         Discussion
Learn more and enroll here

Hell ‘N Back

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 6 Comments

I’m writing today’s missive as part affirmation, part validation and a big heaping of THANK YOU to all the wayshowers, pioneers, first-wavers, shit-disturbers, and revolutionaries who have endured untold suffering and loss and who now live to be witness and guide to those who are coming after us (not as in pursuit, but in chronology).  

Indeed, we have been to hell and back!

My journey into hell began in early 2000 when the universe I had been building for myself began to crumble around me. Mine was a journey that began with great optimism and hope but eventually turned into one devastating loss after another.  Loss, of course, is relative. For me, the losses included the ending of several significant relationships (including a marriage), the death of a career, the loss of perceived community, the experience of poverty, brief homelessness, bankruptcy, and a pile up of chronic illnesses that have negatively impacted abilities that I once took for granted.

In the midst of these losses, many good things happened as well, the greatest of which is a deepening knowledge of who I truly am including the calling to embrace a more deeply monastic lifestyle rooted in sacred practice, solitude, and quiet service to humanity.

Somewhere in my journey into hell, I set aside the conditioned belief that our value is defined by what we do and that success is determined by how hard we work.

Now, I prefer a life of ease – one in which being takes priority over doing, and if doing is called for, it is only that which comes forth out of a deep state of being. As such, I no longer seek after things to do, causes to take up, or a humanity to save.  Instead, I sit in quiet observation of the unfolding of human evolution and wait for those moments when humans seek me out for guidance or support.

I know I am not alone in this because I am surrounded by individuals who have been through their own version of hell and in that journey have been remade. No more are they imprisoned by the conditioning of western culture. No more are they tempted by the pursuit of shiny objects. No more are they willing to exist within the hellscape of late-stage capitalism, but have chosen a new way of being that defies what we were once told was required for our survival.

No longer are we subject to the rules of an outside perceived authority but have discovered our own truth – that which can only be found within.

For generations humanity has been raised on lies. These were the lies created by the ruling classes to imprison us in servitude.

The time of lies is coming to an end, but in order to uncover the truths that have been hidden by these lies, we first had to die to what we were taught to believe and believe in. Every single thing that was imposed from outside of us had to come up for review. Those things we took for granted were wrestled from our grasp. We were made to confront our attachments to money, power, fame, familiarity, control, the status quo…and let them go…kicking and screaming as they were pulled from our cold, dead, hands.  

And we had to do this over and over and over again until there was nothing left of our conditioned selves and all that remained was our Truth.

This is the journey we are now called to witness for others. Having survived (likely exhausted, gasping, and bleeding) our own journey to hell and back, we now have the experience and wisdom to be of support to others.

Lest you are tempted to believe this is a call to action, IT IS NOT. It is not our job to seek out those who might need our support.  Instead, we are called to tend to ourselves. To support ourselves in our continued healing. To live quietly in our truth. To bear witness to humanity’s evolution and to wait for those who may one day seek our support.  

Thank you for all you have endured in your own journey to hell and back. I see you and I acknowledge the sacrifice, the suffering, and all you were made to leave behind. My hope is that in that journey you have come to know yourself more fully and have made yourself free of what previously imprisoned you so that you can enjoy the inner freedom that comes when we successfully find our way out of hell.

With the deepest gratitude and love,

Lauri

Falsehoods Being Revealed

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

As for … all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur,

which is the second death.”

Rev 21:8

As we continue to move through the end of the world as we have known it, the burning of the empire, and the death of the patriarchy, I can’t help but be reminded of the Apocalypse of John (aka The Book of Revelation). While this book is indeed timeless and relevant to human beings at any and all times of our existence on this planet, the symbols, metaphors, and imagery used are appropriate for our times. Humanity is being asked to awaken out of the coma of patriarchal conditioning and into a consciousness that transcends separation – realizing and embodying the truth that we are one species on one world and in order for us to survive, we need to come together as one.

A significant part of that awakening (the meaning of apocalypse) is realizing the lies we’ve been sold and seeing the truth beyond the falsehoods.

To me, the truths are evident. Equally are the falsehoods behind which these truths have been hidden. For years I’ve used my voice to point out these falsehoods, “Look, the Emperor has no clothes,” but few have been willing to listen. Eventually I quit pointing out the lies, allowing the liars and deceivers to dig their own graves – because, in the end, they always do.

Truth stands on its own and will eventually reveal itself. Another way of saying this is that liars will always end up showing themselves for who they truly are. Further, those who seek to deceive will eventually find their way to the lake of fire – suffering the consequences of their lies – often by finding themselves deceived.

Deceivers will be deceived. Cheaters will be cheated. Manipulators will be manipulated. Thieves will become the victim of thievery.

I call this Karma. The human part of me relishes in the thought of watching karma mete out its own form of justice while cheering when seeing it done. I don’t feel sorry for the person suffering the consequences of their own actions, BUT I do have compassion for whatever wound in them caused them to be a deceiver in the first place, and my wish for them is healing.

We are at a place in the evolution of humanity where truths are being seen and falsehoods are being called to task. This revelation of truths and falsehoods has been increasing in frequency and subtlety for the past several years. Most recently, the revelations have become a constant bombardment that has left many of us feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and a fair bit overstimulated. As soon as we seem to recover from one truth-telling, another bomb is dropped on our heads. Right now, the battle between truth and falsehoods has produced a chaos that many are finding difficult to navigate, let alone manage.

The only way I can see for us to make it through the current deluge of lies is to get out of the way. Universal law tells us that the lies will be revealed, and truth will eventually emerge. Until that time, all we can do is bear witness to the battle, trusting that truth will win out and karma will find its way. The phrase I keep hearing is: 

WAIT FOR IT!  The truth is already here, the liars just need to dig a deep enough hole for themselves and the entire world will see them for who they truly are.

Indeed, the emperor has no clothes.