When Sarah Chambers sold her box of transcripts to Chelsea Quinn Yarbro several years later, it’s unknown what agreements were reached between them, but what IS known is that none of the others who had been members of TOMG and who also had copies of the transcripts were ever contacted  when “Messages from Michael” was being written, nor during the subsequent books. They never signed away their rights nor were questioned as to their own roles within the 18-months of initial channeling of the Michael Entity. They were never interviewed.

A small group of Michael students has obtained an entire box of transcripts from one of those members, has scanned all of them, and they’ve been released online as PDF files beginning today. The following was posted by Barbara Taylor, one of the members:

Date/Time:  May 5, 2012  5:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time

For the past few years, we have been collecting copies of transcripts from the Michael study group in the 1970s with Sarah Chambers and friends.  Most of what we have collected comes from members of that original group.

After consulting with legal experts, it has been confirmed that these original transcripts are in the Public Domain and may be freely shared with Michael students.

We are making these transcripts universally available to help dispel some of the false mystique, mystery and misunderstanding that have surrounded their existence, whereabouts and use before now.  It is our intent to make them readily accessible, free of charge, to Michael students and other interested persons everywhere.  We encourage you to download these transcripts, in whole or in part, for your own study and sharing with others.  Since they are exact copies of the original Michael study group sessions held in Oakland during the 1970s, we believe they are an invaluable resource for expansion of knowledge about the Michael group and its teachings by interested students and scholars everywhere.

The transcripts may be downloaded from https://www.box.com/s/5ce43099329013efbf1d

Included in the file directory (in PDF format) are:

- Dimensions Magazine (April and June 1975)

- A compilation called “One True Teaching” in 2 parts

- A compilation called “A Cosmic Teaching”

- Charts and Graphs that the study group used (TOMG_Misc.pdf)

- Individual transcript sessions from 1973 through 1978 (TOMG_date.pdf)

- A compilation called “The Teachings of Michael”

The link included in this message points to an online file directory where you can download scanned copies of the transcripts we have gathered in PDF format. The files in this directory do contain real names, so we ask students to respect the privacy of the individuals.

At some later time, we intend to release an easier-to-read version (with aliases for names), which will include an updated history of the Michael Teachings that includes interviews with members of the original study group.

The second part of this blog posting is more difficult to write and word in a way to reflect my true meaning. In order to release the transcripts it was decided to form a non-profit organization, Center for Michael Teachings. The current three-member board consists of Kath Neall, Barbara Taylor, and Philip Whittmeyer.  The stated goal for the organization is to release the transcripts from TOMG and other documents from pre-CQY release of MFM, as well as to act as a central organization to gather all of the channeled materials from a variety of sources that have risen since the early days. One of the biggest problems with that stated goal is that there are very few transcribed documents from a plethora of sessions held by most of the channels over the past 30 years. They held live telephone or in person sessions and a mix of no record, cassette recordings, and more recently computer audio files have been created. To my knowledge, Terri Benning and Troy Tolley are the only ones who have consistently used typed computer delivery of their channeling, which creates a record automatically.

Most of Troy’s work has already been released or published via his website,  and/or is located in his library. Many of his clients have been going back through their personal sessions and posting those onto the site, too. Eventually, his library will include a mix of all of his work with his client-base, live public sessions, and even sessions such as his workshops. He’s been holding “Michael Speaks Live” sessions monthly for at least a decade, all of which were based on Q&A sessions with Michael that focused on non-personal topics or were topic-based for the entire session.

The real work that is going to require beaucoup hours of painstaking transcription is with channels such as Emily Bombach, JP Van Hulle, Michael North, Caris Turpin, Shepherd Hoodwin, and Steve Cocconi, all of whom have work spanning a couple of decades. Further, it is unknown how much “general” or non-personal sessions were held during these years. I understand the desire to capture this work into a useable format; however, it will be labor intensive.

This is the crux of my uneasiness with the current configuration with the Center for Michael Teachings. At this beginning point it consists of only 3 members, supposedly representing all Michael Students, past, present, and future. It will be setting policy, handling fund-raising, creating a website open to all, etc. As most know who have been members of the wider Michael “community” can attest, there has been little broad agreement that spans the years. There has been divisive feuds, exclusivity, and banning of members who fail to agree with one of the subsets.  For example, Dave Gregg, the current owner of the Michael Teachings website does not allow anything from Troy Tolley to be posted on his Group List, Forum, or website. Nor have I seen a whole lot of work from most of those other channels showing up, either. The newest Michael website/community started up a year ago and is private and exclusive. One cannot find it in a websearch. Nor is one allowed to join it unless approved by a small group of Admins, most notably Kath Neall. Disagree with her, and your membership will be suspended within a few days.

Both of those websites are supposedly efforts to be open and inclusive, reflective of all Michael work. Most of the other Michael websites are at least in part aspects of channels’ businesses. They are the main contact point for ordering work.

My point is this — if we want a centralized organization, it MUST be open to all Michael Students, regardless of whichever channel or dissenting belief they follow. The board needs to represent a broader spectrum of the community. There needs to be an agreement that all can sign on to that stipulates openness for all Michael channeling, including that which we cannot validate. There will be arguments, it’s unavoidable. We already know that there are strong disagreements, whether it be personalities clashing or discrepancies between various channels. This has to be met head-on and policies created that are fair and resilient.

First I asked for his profile, I knew that he was Sage-casted Artisan as Michael has previously referred to him as an Artisan and he’s a Traveling Companion, which makes him most likely Sage-casted.

The fragment in question is a 3rd Level Old Soul with a 40 Frequency and 35 Focused, 65 Creative Ratio, in Discrimination, Observation Mode sliding to Expression Axis, with a Pragmatist Attitude that slides to the Action Axis; Emotionally Centered, Moving Part, with Chief Features of Self-destruction, Stubbornness, and Martyrdom. We think that the approximate number of lives shared in terms of meaningful proximity would be around 30. We do not see that the fragment in question having moved much beyond the 2nd Internal Monad.

I can see one reason that we resonated strongly, we share the same Goal and Mode, as well as casting. But I can also see why there were ongoing conflicts with those CFs.  Oddly enough, I can validate that he was hung up in the 2nd Internal Monad now more than I could have a couple of years ago. Lack of growth on his part was a major reason for leaving. He had many characteristics that never changed, such as nearly no empathy for others. It also shows why he was always seeking approval, beyond his beginnings in the “projects.” In a sense it kept him balanced as he wanted to be considered “middle classed” more than anything; so, he mimicked what he thought were the outstanding attributes of that class distinction.

The relevant quote from the 7 Internal Monads article says,

As an adult, Tell-tale signs of an incomplete SECOND Internal Monad are Intimacy issues, lack of social skills, bowel problems, preoccupation with remaining under parental care, or a strong need for approval far into your adulthood.

As a child, the incomplete Second Internal Monad will show up as soon as Adolescence, with violence, complete rebellion against all things, sexual promiscuity (defined here as having sex to just have it, usually for attention or acceptance, without meaning, curiosity, or relevance on any level), rape, dropping out from all forms of organization.

I have to confess that I have “issues” with people hung up in their 2nd and 3rd IMs well into their adulthood. But, I think it’s simple snobbery more than inherent differences. It’s almost like I expect them to be retarded, and they’re not. But, I do remember certain pathologies tend to accompany 2nd IM people, such as sociopath and psychopath. They lack a conscience for the most part, but depending on how they compensate for that, they can function pretty much like anyone else. They don’t have to grow up to become Ted Bundy. Of course that is a huge generalization as there are far more hung 2nd IMs than there are pathological people; however, I’d probably put most Borderline Personalities in that group, too.

Another look at the 2nd Internal Monad is in the “7 Stages” article.

One of the things that smacks you in the face when you get something channeled is a feeling of “Well, shit, if I knew then what I know now, would I have gotten involved with him?” What if I’d been a Michael student before I met him, had his profile channeled, would I have gone forward?

If I had chickened out, I would have missed one of the most captivating and fun people I’ve ever known. I laugh when I see the 3rd Stage of “Mimic.” Not only was he a clever mimic of sounds and noises, but it’s what kept him on track to be “like everyone else.” The fact that I kept getting him to give up booze for long periods of time also kept him far more compatible. He was high energy and one of the hardest working people I’ve ever known. He put everything on the line when he was trying to support us or took on rehab projects. He knew a pick and shovel intimately because the bigger equipment was simply unaffordable.

He was hungry to know stuff. Since he was a dyslexic who could barely read simple text, he found every science program on television and watched them. He enjoyed all types of construction books, especially with pictures and graphics, and learned all of the various trades that comprise residential construction. Yet he was in the printing industry.

I’ll continue this on the next posting, but more from the perspective of how I can let my demons of the past go.

Michael said as an add-on to my questions about Equality in Relationships, “For instance: that abusive relationship you dove into and endured, but have now ended, not only reflected something about you and your needs at the time, but what you did with the experience helped you to come home toward wholeness, and this is why the relationship was your equal, your teacher, and not a mistake or imposed.” Troy was aware that I’m divorced; but, I don’t discuss the relationship most of the time and I doubt he’s read anything where I have mentioned the abuse; although, it’s possible.

But, Michael said more about our relationship, went into a lengthy list of agreements that we had, all of them Essence agreements. Essence agreements are made prior to birth; Personality agreements are made by Personalities once born.

I was living with and married to my second husband, George, for 30 years. It was a complex relationship that I finally ended at the 30 year mark. I have no regrets about ending it, but I bear him no ongoing ill will, either; although, I did in 1997 when I left. I’ve had difficult defining my relationship to him, not only from the perspective of him and me, but from the feedback from our grown offspring.

His biggest flaw? A nasty violent temper when drinking. This affected everyone in the household. And, from what the “kids” have said more recently, he could be pretty mean to them when I wasn’t around, too. Also, I remember several incidents of him flipping out with his son, my stepson, who lived with us off and on over the years. Most of the things he did would be classified as child abuse during this era. But, it was unpredictable and fairly random, and if I could head it off, I did. When he wasn’t drinking, the issues were far less.

There was a whole ‘nother level of abuse that I had to field as usually the kids were in bed by the time his drinking turned him into Mr. Hyde. I really don’t want to go into detail; other than saying that the first few years were a nightmare, and I got him to stop drinking at about 8 years into the marriage, and he was dry until we moved East, bought an Inn that had a bar in 79. We survived that and he went dry again for another 8 years. Then, he got involved with work socializing and drinking. By this time, my gut was in a knot everytime he took a drink; I was like Pavlov’s dog. This on-again/off-again drinking, verbal abuse, and some violence eventually because a point that I could no longer endure. It didn’t matter how many “good years” had passed in between incidents. The gut-wrenching fear was back in a heartbeat. Would this be the time he killed me?

For the most part, he never acted on his threats. But he had; so, it was thoroughly programmed into me as a possibility. Plus, he bragged about trying to kill his first wife.

I could put up with every other personality foible. In fact, I pretty well accepted him as he was and didn’t consider him to be particularly flawed. He had his quirks; but, most of them were funny or eccentric. We were highly compatible in most ways. We both could laugh ourselves into tears and choking. I never lied to him until that last year when I started making final decisions to leave.

In terms of my own personal history with my ex-husband, George, I would like to know what Agreements and Benefits were fulfilled between us.

[MEntity] As for your second question: we can say that, in terms of “benefit,” there was

Mutual Sanctuary fulfilled;

a Mate Agreement;

Healing Agreements;

Agreements to Truly Allow Moments of Loving and To Be Loved;

Agreements to Confidence and Privacy;

Agreements to Gentle Boundaries (personal space);

Agreements for Quiet;

Agreements for Durable Kindness;

Agreements for Understanding and Allowing The Hard Choice/s;

Agreements for Sincere Moments of Pleasure;

These agreements really did reflect our relationship far more than just the abuse. I find the “Agreement for Quiet” to be amusing as he’s Sage-casted, and I’m Sage-casted Sage. And, yes, we knew how to be alone and working our own projects. Since he was severely dyslexic, he also needed quiet to concentrate. But, I can validate each of those agreements or conditions existing throughout our marriage. They weren’t everyday things, but were definitely part of our mutual acceptance of each other on a day-in and day-out basis.

These agreements are what added complexity to our relationship, something the kids never really understood. But, he didn’t have those agreements with them, either. If anything, he exhibited jealousy of them whenever they interfered with “our” time. The kids pretty much viewed him through jaundiced eyes of someone highly unpredictable and prone to anger. Meanwhile, I ran interference as much as I could.

I know that time and distance has allowed me to let go of my disaffection with him. I accept that I will always love him, but have no desire to have contact with him again in this lifetime. We definitely served as a spark to each other in encouraging us as individuals to experiment and try new learning curves. He was very supportive of my college work during the 80s and my quilting during the 90s.

This is similar to most of my non-reactions to the nearly daily dramas of groups in disagreement. Once I recognize that each side is locked into their point of view and unlikely to change, I move on. Some people will change their opinions with new evidence and experiences over time, but it’s highly unlikely to happen in an emotionally charged discussion. The more people argue, the more entrenched they become to their point of view. I know, I’ve been there.

Today, Huffington Post started a new series, “Breakdown, American’s on the Edge.” It will examine the lives of middle class and the poor with articles written by about two dozen reporters over the upcoming year. The articles I’ve read so far are a good balance of statistics and anecdotal stories. Anecdotal stories are like pictures — each story represents many others experiencing something similar.

One of the things that struck me were the comments from the readers, depending on whether or not they felt sympathy for the people in the plight being detailed, based on their own political orientation. The obvious “liberals” were very scathing about those who fell from wealth into homelessness in the “Silicon Valley Homeless Feel The Grip Of Recession’s Long Reach” article. Their responses would be characterized by complete contempt.

Alternatively, it seemed to be mostly conservatives posting on the plight of the multi-generational poor, “For America’s Least Fortunate, The Grip Of Poverty Spans Generations.” They are ready to cut all of the safety-nets. There is little sympathy or compassion in many of the responses.

However, both perspectives seem to have a lot of “holier-than-thou” going on. There is a disconnect between their own sense of humanity and what they offer to others. Blame seems to be a factor — i.e., it’s not MY problem because they fucked up their lives.

Meanwhile, I’m reading these articles with two alternative perspectives going on: 1) A sense of a view into what is really happening in the 21st Century world, and the U.S. in particular; and, 2) from a Michael perspective of mind-wrenchingly difficult lives — not a whole lot different than pre-Modern times. As Michael has said, many of the Infant Soul Age and early Baby are incarnating into urban poverty and barely surviving. The ones who have fallen from secure and comfortable lives into poverty seem to be Young Souls going through their 4th Internal Monads with a vengeance.

The comments will stay with me for awhile. It was a window into how much people actually care. And, I’d say it’s “not much.” Or, rather, it’s more in the enlightened self-interest of “depends on whose ox is being gored.” I don’t see Washington DC coming up with a balanced solution. This one is going to stay ugly for a long while as the voters seem to view everything through the filter of “what’s in it for me?”

I’m so glad that I’m alive during this particular time and place. I’m totally enjoying myself — there is always something new to explore. New doesn’t have to be a brand new discovery, although it can be — but, it’s also exploring topics I’ve never heard of previously or about which I never knew more than a soundbite or two. It makes me somewhat of a knowledge dilettante, but it’s comfortable.

One of the things that has puzzled me is how extreme the political rhetoric has become over my lifetime. Although, apparently, it’s not new as much as just increased in exposure across all media. The radio created “national” movements vs local ones. Television increased the exposure, along with weekly and monthly news magazines. What started off as neutral became more strident. The internet has smashed all records in terms of what is available on a daily basis across a wide spectrum of news, facts, and opinions. It’s global.

Today, I read a great article, written by Matt Taibbi of the “Rolling Stone,” titled “Arizona Debate: Conservative Chickens Come Home to Roost.” He did a good job of giving the more recent history of the Conservative movement, although he didn’t really give the roots of it being the ginned up fear of the 50s and 60s and anti-communism. But, at least he made sense of why politics has become more strident and hysterical — and is well worth the time it takes to read.

One of the interesting things about imprinting is that during this time period, we’ve never had so much conflicting information butting up against our belief systems. It wasn’t that long ago, where people could live their entire lives in the “modern” world and not have to face conflicting ideas with which they’d been raised if they chose to. While the invention of the printing press was as profound to moving ideas around as the internet has been, it still took a lot more effort to locate and read books. World literacy wasn’t particularly high, either; so, it was more likely the elites with both education and money who were apt to be the readers.

I use the term internet loosely as it has become far more than the text-driven computer technology of 20 years ago. The entire mobile phone era has hit all over the world. Videos with live voices are telling their stories. Literacy is no longer required. While repressive regimes continue blocking efforts, new methods of getting around the blocked signals are developed equally quickly.  Phone plans like Vonage are opening up world-wide phone conversations at little or no cost. The further one goes outside of one’s local culture, the more apt one is to run into differences that can clash with imprinting and belief systems.

Some people become lost in a sea of angst. The world is changing faster than they can cope. Things they thought were true no longer work. They are overwhelmed. Even when they’re cocooned in a protective layer of small home town, new things keep showing up or become more obvious. Television and the internet remains a kaleidoscope of different. That’s why some will only watch Fox News or MSNBC — it’s a safe way to get “differentness,” as the programming is couched in familiar memes.

Meanwhile, I keep seeing the same people around me. They’ve not grown horns. They’ve not started foaming at the mouth. They’ve not changed a whole lot, even though the thoughts they express are progressively more and more outside of their levels of expertise. Listening to someone rant about politics, who lives off the grid, hasn’t had a full bath in several years, doesn’t even wash his hands weekly, and needs assistance at the food pantry is a lesson in anachronism. He’s up on various conspiracy theories, and KNOWS that Obama is a socialist Muslim.  So, he’s tied into the grid SOMEplace, probably radio.

The world continues to surprise me.

I was intrigued by the various profiles that Troy channeled in early January. They were on a par with other things that Michael has said about politicians, i.e., most are solidly stuck in the 3rd Internal Monad. It wasn’t surprising to me that the two who seemed the most mature in their outlooks, Huntsman and Paul, were well along in their 4th IM. They really resonate differently. This may be why Romney is struggling to capture the nomination, even though he’s considered to be the frontrunner. It must be tough to be a Warrior-casted King having to vie for popular support, rather than just receiving his “due.”

Today, I came across a fascinating article by Chris Mooney, “Want to Understand Republicans? First Understand Evolution.” While I’m going to quote it, I strongly recommend a full read. And, I think it’s very valid in Michael terms on the differences between various Soul Ages and the inherent outlooks that each exhibit. Based on may different studies, he’s come to the conclusion that there is an evolutionary difference between liberals and conservatives, which in turn frames two substantially different realities. He posits, “. . .conservatism is largely a defensive ideology — and therefore, much more appealing to people who go through life sensitive and highly attuned to aversive or threatening aspects of their environments. By contrast, liberalism can be thought of as an exploratory ideology — much more appealing to people who go through life trying things out and seeking the new.”

Anyone who has read various statements from conservatives can quickly see how fear-based it is. They fear the future and want to return to yesteryear, those halcyon days that never were. And, it’s not that liberals aren’t fear-based, but they are seeking changes that might be solutions to long-standing problems. However, it’s useful to remember that the bigger population is somewhere in the middle — centrist, moderate, independent, or even a-political.

By and large, the people who show up for primary caucuses or elections are the most dedicated to a candidate. There are far more who will vote in the General Election in November than will during the preliminaries. For example, McCain garnered 9.8 million total primary votes, but received 59.9 million during the general. Conversely, the combination of Obama and Clinton primary votes equaled somewhat less than half of the plurality of the general election. It will be interesting to see whether or not the Republican primaries will boost their voter count; however, so far, they’re running lower or on a par with previous totals.

Meanwhile, watching Romney is similar to watching a contortionist. In order to win the Republican nomination, he must appear as a conservative, but to win the General, he must appear as a moderate. Obama may not be wildly popular right now, but his appeal will resurrect once he goes head-to-head with the Republican nominee, and he already holds the centrist position.

Meanwhile, Mooney’s closing argument will bear watching:

For now, I’ll leave it to others to speculate on the root causes of these differences. But whatever those may be, the perceptual gap between left and right certainly seems less than “adaptive” at the present moment. It may be the fault of biology that we’re now misfiring so very badly — clashing in ways that, as with the debt ceiling fiasco, could have gravely harmed everybody in America, regardless of their particular ideology.

The Nebraska-Lincoln scientists interpret their results as a powerful argument in favor of greater political tolerance and understanding — and I agree with them. Politics isn’t war, and it isn’t zero sum. It requires negotiation and compromise. Surely our public debates should be guided by something more than threat responses and fight-or-flight.

So how do we get beyond our political biology? Well, the implication for liberals seems obvious: If they want to fare better politically, they need to learn to go against their instincts and stay focused and committed.

And the lesson for conservatives? Well, here it is tougher. You see, first we’d have to get them to accept something they often view as aversive and threatening: The theory of evolution.

Personally, I’ve found the Michael Teachings to be more concerned with emotional and spiritual ideas than about physical ones. We’re always dancing along the outer edge of Personality development and Essence evolution. So, while we discuss things such as Body Types, chakras, being Moving centered, etc., the focus is usually about our conscious ability to choose. Most of the profiles for older souls seem to have Moving centered as a trapped part, rather than Intellectual or Emotional.  Even though we’re well aware that we’re in a solid 3D physical form, we don’t tend to give a lot of emphasis to the very real biological chemical factory that IS our body, except when diet or health is being discussed.

Three of the Internal Monads are undergone through a time of intense physical change, the first 20 or so years of one’s life. These are far more than conscious rites of passage — the change from infant to toddler is profound, as are the years that eventually culminate in adolescence and then adulthood. It’s long been said that the only bone that doesn’t change size from birth is the eardrum. Every other body part is a cellular explosion of change, even without any particular weight gain issues. Every adult who has ever held a newborn baby marvels at just how small we start off — normal birth weight is between 6 and 8 pounds. The average adult brain weighs 3 pounds, or nearly half of total birth weight. All of my children were about 20 inches when born and are all now 63 to 66 inches tall — none are considered “tall.”

When Michael describes the 3rd Internal Monad, they are mostly describing psychological changes, rather than physical ones; however, they do say, “This is the adjustment of the body and Personality in relation to the Moving Center, or Power Chakra.” Also, they mention a physiological impact in the 7 Levels of the 3rd Internal Monad, “In fact, until the hormonal washes of the 3rd Internal Monad are completed, not even the brain is capable of comprehending the impact and power of Choice.”

Yet, based on scientific evidence, a great deal of engine that drives the behaviors of an adolescent are physiological changes. A good overview is found in the “Five Reasons Teenagers Act the Way They Do:”

1. Risk Taking
All teenagers take stupid risks that they one day look back on and wonder what the heck they were thinking. But studies have found it is not because teens aren’t thinking about the risks involved—it’s because they think about them longer than adults.

Yes, that’s counter-intuitive. But think of it like this: If you are on a diet and see a piece of yummy chocolate cake, are you more likely to eat it if you just glance at it, remember you are trying to eat healthy, and walk away, or if you sit there and mull over the pros and cons of eating it? The latter, obviously.

It’s the same with the teen brain. Our brains take a lot longer to fully form than was previously thought. In teens, the frontal lobe (where our decision making happens) is not as connected to the rest of the brain as it is later in life. This means teens literally cannot come to a decision as fast as an adult. Teens take an average of 170 milliseconds longer to go over the consequences of a decision, which in turn makes them more likely to decide the risk is worth it.

2. Giving in to Peer Pressure
Adding friends to the mix makes it even harder for teens to avoid taking risks. Adults wonder why their kids’ friends can influence them so much. That’s because once you are an adult, your brain has quite literally grown out of it.

One study using MRI scans on adults and teens showed that their brains reacted very differently to the presence of friends when making a decision. It found that teens who would not take risks when alone or with an adult were far more likely to take risks when their friends were watching. The scans showed that the reward center of the teen brain became much more active in the company of their peers. In college students and adults, however, the reward center’s activity remained at a constant level no matter who was watching.

This means that teens, when spending that tiny bit of extra time deciding what choice to make, are also fighting against the overwhelming internal drive that tells us to do things that feel good. As the brain develops in adulthood, however, that connection ends and we end up getting no extra good feeling from taking risks in front of our friends.

3. Lack of Concentration
While teens may look more like adults than kids, to a neuroscientist their brains resemble a child’s. That’s part of the reason teens suddenly start acting like toddlers again around age 14. While their bodies are aging, their brain is rearranging itself in a way that temporarily makes it act the same way it did when they were younger.

When scientists looked at how teenagers’ brains functioned while they were distracted during an assigned task, they found a large amount of activity in that darn frontal lobe again, far more than they would in an adult. Teens have too much active grey matter in that area, something that decreases as we get older. This means their brain is trying to take in and process everything going on around it, literally overloading them. The more streamlined adult brain works more efficiently, making concentrating on one thing much easier.

But if you are in your twenties and have been feeling cocky up until this point, it’s important to note that this chaotic brain makeup doesn’t completely settle down until your early thirties.

4. Overly Emotional
If teens seem to not care about other people’s feelings or seem to flip out over nothing, it might not be because they are drama queens. Studies have found that teens have a much harder time correctly interpreting vocal inflection and facial expressions from other people, and so they sometimes react irrationally to emotional situations.

One study showed teens and adults pictures like this: 

What emotion do you think that woman is feeling? If you’re not a teenager you probably answered fear, just like every single adult in the study did. But while some teens identified fear, 50% of them saw anger, or even shock. All of the participants were hooked up to MRI machines while they looked at these images, and an analysis of the scans showed that adults and teens used two completely different parts of their brains to come to a decision on what emotions the people were feeling.

The teens were using a part of the brain called the amygdala, which largely controls emotions, while the most active part of the adult brain was the part controlling logic and reason. That means that if you are expressing an emotion—say, disappointment—a teen’s brain has a 50% chance of misinterpreting it as a different emotion, like anger. Then, since the emotional part of their brain is already active from making that (incorrect) judgment, they become more likely to react irrationally and over the top.

5. Getting Dumber
Parents of teens often wonder what happened to the bright child they used to have. How can someone go from getting A’s to getting C’s when they seem to be doing the same amount of work? Once again, changes in the brain are to blame. While the merits of IQ tests are debatable, scientists used to think IQ stayed the same over one’s lifetime. Now it turns out that number can fluctuate widely in adolescence.

All the extra grey matter we talked about starts to die off as you get older. When you are young, that grey stuff has lots of extra synapses that help your brain store and process information. But as you age, your brain starts killing off the bits that don’t get used as often. Scientists used to think there was only one major “surge” of synapse “pruning” when we were children, but brain scans of teens have shown that one just as large happens at the beginning of adolescence.

This makes sense biologically; why should your brain waste energy remembering things that aren’t very necessary to your day to day life? It’s one of the reasons that younger children can learn a second language much faster than adults; they have more synapses to store that information. And if they keep speaking that second language often enough, they will remember it the rest of their lives.

But if there is a subject they didn’t concentrate so hard on, like math, suddenly they start forgetting things they used to know because the brain is deleting that information.

I found each of those points to be quite illuminating. Although, I didn’t interpret the picture as “fear.” There were too many mixed messages in the picture, and I was more apt to ascribe the look to bewilderment or my reaction was “Get off those drugs NOW!” I also enjoyed the fact that this article didn’t even use the word “hormones” a single time.

I also think that if someone hasn’t finished their 2nd Internal Monad in positive poles, their teen years are going to be even more chaotic as they stay in negative poles and maybe careen off into VERY negative poles. For example, the 1st Stage, Initiation, has a negative pole of rebellion. While all will experience some degree of rebellion in order to start pulling away from “home and hearth” towards independence, some will make it a lifestyle that profoundly impacts them for years. Many who end up on the wrong side of the law go into a pattern of recidivism that doesn’t seem to break until 4th IM kicks in as a physical rite of passage.

I’d like to get more channeling on the 3rd Internal Monad from a physiological perspective — the Moving Centered part of it.

I’ve spent my evening going through a series of TED videos on YouTube on various talks he’s given at conferences over several years.

 Hans Rosling: No more boring data: TEDTalks

Hans Rosling on global population growth

Hans Rosling: Asia’s rise — how and when

Hans Rosling: New insights on poverty and life around the world

Hans Rosling on HIV: New facts and stunning data visuals

Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine

All are worth watching and vary from 10 to 20 minutes. He’s a statistician who has created software to animate and make statistics interesting and understandable to anyone. But, most importantly, he’s taken historical publicly available data and made it relevant about a world that is changing far more rapidly than any of us have kept pace with. It altered my belief systems about population, income, health, and life expectancy — changes that have been occurring over the past 150 years, but most especially since 1960.

I’ve not been able to validate Michael’s reiterations about the world moving into a Mature Soul Age as I’ve been hung up in old data, old images, and paradigms about East versus West or to use the language of the past 50 years — developed versus undeveloped nations. Rosling admits that he started from the same place, but it was through statistics about what has really been happening that changed his worldview.  If you only watch one of the videos, start with the first one. His data proves that almost none of the political rhetoric that we’ve been employing is valid.

Birth rates have been radically dropping since 1960, even though there has been population growth overall. They have been dropping worldwide in all places, except for most of Africa. Child survival rates have increased dramatically — in fact, he’s drawing the correlation that birth rates are tied to survival rates. He believes that trends are well in place throughout most of the world for rising income, rising survival rates, increased longevity, to actually achieve maximum population of about 9 billion people, then universal stable birth/survival rates, and then declining population at about 2048.

It’s easy for us to focus on places such as Afghanistan, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Haiti to draw a worldview of ALL backward and poverty-ridden countries and assume that this is true for all but the “West.” Watch the video on Asia’s rise to get a better understanding of huge changes that have been underway since 1947.

Michael students have a tendency to gloss over the importance of younger soul ages and just how much vitality they can have. Let’s face it, we tend to be Soul Age snobs. Another thing we tend to gloss over is the fact that Young Souls progressively move past rigid ideologies. They become highly competitive, independent, and willing to explore beyond the boundaries of tradition. They are movers and shakers. Mature souls may become more community and relationship oriented, but they keep a lot of the paradigms that drive Young Souls, but with more “heart.”

The world is not as backwards and poverty-riddled as it once was. Change has been occurring, and it’s been occurring far more rapidly than anyone has realized. I can now see that it’s quite possible that we are moving into a Mature Soul world that will continue to evolve. It simply won’t be based on old data and belief systems.

The factories and working conditions of the Industrial Revolution throughout Europe and the U.S. became more regulated, labor laws were enacted, and environmental protections were implemented to clean up dead rivers, toxic dumpsites, and contaminated water supplies during the 20th C. Recycling has become part of our consciousness in many cities and towns. Yet, rampant consumerism has not slowed any of these issues, they’ve been exacerbated.

For example, most who can read this have owned multiple computers during the past 20 years. Most who have bought 2G, 3G, and now 4G mobile phones have owned more than one model for each generation. Most who have bought various gaming devices have owned more than one model as new features were released. Most who have had a television during the same period of time have owned several, with at least one of them simply being an upgrade to a newer and better model.  I would hazard a guess that at least half of all of these secondary purchases were due to needing to “upgrade,” rather than the original piece of equipment being totally non-usable and defunct.

Why am I focusing on electronics? Because they are one of the biggest sources of manufacturing and consumer-generated toxic waste. As Greenpeace says so succinctly: “Electronic devices are a complex mixture of several hundred materials. A mobile phone, for example, contains 500 to 1000 components. Many of these contain toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium and hazardous chemicals, such as brominated flame retardants. Polluting PVC plastic is also frequently used.” Read the Greenpeace Briefing on the heavy metals and chemicals used in making electronics. Here’s a good chart on E-Waste.

Quoted in the Wikipedia article, “Electronic Waste,” which definitely has had “industry” input to mitigate its harshness, “According to a report by UNEP titled, “Recycling – from E-Waste to Resources,” the amount of e-waste being produced – including mobile phones and computers – could rise by as much as 500 percent over the next decade in some countries, such as India. The United States is the world leader in producing electronic waste, tossing away about 3 million tons each year. China already produces about 2.3 million tons (2010 estimate) domestically, second only to the United States. And, despite having banned e-waste imports, China remains a major e-waste dumping ground for developed countries.”

If one wants to think in terms of global politics, think Afghanistan. In 2010, the Pentagon said, “Afghanistan has significant deposits of copper, iron ore, niobium, cobalt, gold, molybdenum, silver and aluminum as well as sources of fluorspar, beryllium and lithium, among others, a task force studying the country’s resources found.” Oil is not the only mineral that drives the world economy.

One has only to do a brief Google search to discover the vast issue of hazardous waste, toxic dumpsites, etc., located throughout the world. No country has been immune. This is becoming our true legacy to our children, grandchildren, and generations into the 2100s. Consumerism drives the engine for most of it. And, we all consume.

It’s worth remembering that the ensoulment of the Cetaceans was due to that Sentient Design’s Grand Cycle making its own home world uninhabitable due to industrial waste and misuse of the environment. I’m sure there are many who would have preferred to remain on their home world and to have had the opportunity to finish out their Cycle as planned. According to Michael, that species was not unique.

It’s worth remembering that since we believe that we will be incarnating again and again, it is truly the legacy to ourselves. This is the world we are creating that we will be living in. Personal responsibility will come full circle. It’s not just our children and our children’s children who will inherit this environmental mess, it is us. Not all karma is tit-for-tat balancing from Essence to Essence. Some of it is our legacies to ourselves. We are creating one especially onerous reality.

Some of this is the deep winter blahs. We’ve been mostly below 0-F for over a month now–day and night. Even though we’ve been getting more sunshine recently, that’s still a relative concept as it contains no warmth, nor does it linger long to shine through my window. Wind returns for several days at a time — today and tomorrow, it’ll be blowing gustily at about 35 mph with wind chills down around minus 35. The two feet of snow is gone from the parking garage roof immediately outside my window, stripped away by the wind and sent elsewhere. Someone is getting some huge drifts. I keep waiting for the return to “normal” temperatures of 10s and 20s. Part of the blahs is the extreme isolation it imposes. Errands are miserable events, and I can’t even keep my door cracked to outside. I’m cocooned inside.

I’ve been forced to become more news-oriented, which never is an uplifting event, especially during extreme political times. Normally, I avoid the rancor and posturing as little of it seems real. As politicians attempt to find resonance with voters, they manufacture issues, while avoiding anything of substance. So much is overstated, misstated, or glorified into far more than it warrants. 24-Hour media repeats and repeats, trying to find kernels of “something” to talk about just to avoid empty air only to become empty air. There is more speculation than bona fide news. 30-Second soundbites get dissected as though they are major 2-hour policy statements.

I watched the 2nd South Carolina Republican Debate between the remaining four candidates last night. It was more entertaining than I expected it would be. Also, I was in full Discrimination and Observation; so, I was disengaged in terms of allowing the rhetoric get to me. I’ve noticed that this has become far more prevalent during the past couple of years. It’s as though I’m watching actors deliver their well-rehearsed lines, which in a sense that is exactly what they are doing. All candidates spend enormous time preparing for debates, and aren’t really delivering very much that is extemporaneous.

I found myself actually liking and appreciating two candidates whom I traditionally would totally dismiss: Santorum and Gingrich. Both were articulate and passionate, i.e., they didn’t drool on themselves. I honestly believe that Santorum, while quite pre-packaged, really believes what he says from his Baby-souled perspective. I don’t have to agree with him to understand that he’s got integrity within his belief systems. And, in fact, I find it hard to believe that he’s stuck in his 2nd IM. There is an honest sincerity about him; so, what is his true Achilles heel? Similarly, Gingrich presents himself well, but we know his personal history — it’s not surprising to know that he’s stuck way back in Stage 1 of the 3rd IM. This man has issues.  As for Romney, he’s the true representative of the last gasp of the Young soul-age.

As for the chronic anti-Obama din, I think that once Obama starts his campaign, that he’ll be able to prove that he’s accomplished more than most people know and that he’ll come across as the only adult in the room. Andrew Sullivan did a great recap on Obama, “Obama’s Long Game,” and it’s well worth a read in order to put Obama back into perspective. The constant trashing is mostly egos attempting to get elected, rather than based on substance. It will be interesting to see if the “Mature Soul Age” is actually upon us or not. Obama is the only representative of the older soul perspectives.

Meanwhile, I’ve got to find something else to occupy my mind online than politics. It’s a wasteland.