Fresh Power to Transform Yourself Is on the Way
Life will deliver the creative energy you need
Pronoia doesn't promise uninterrupted progress forever. It's not a slick commercial for a perfect summer day that never ends.
Grace emerges in the ebb and flow, not just the flow.
The waning reveals a different kind of blessing than the waxing.
But whether it's our time to ferment in the valley of shadows or rise up singing in the sun-splashed meadow, fresh power to transform ourselves is always on the way.
Our suffering won't last, nor will our triumph.
Without fail, life will deliver the creative energy we need to change into the new thing we must become.
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Words of the meme are by David Levithan. Art by Anne Patay.
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Tweakable Pronoia Therapy
Experiments and exercises in becoming a radically curious, wildly disciplined, ironically sincere Master of Sacred Uproar
1. "Obstacles are a natural part of life, just as boulders are a natural part of the course of a river," declares the ancient Chinese book the I Ching. "The river does not complain or get depressed because there are boulders in its path."
I'd go so far to say—this is not in the original text, but is my 21st-century addition—that the river gets a sensual thrill as it glides its smooth current over the irregular shapes and hard skin of the rocks.
It looks forward to the friction, exults in the intimate touch, loves the drama of the interaction.
How would you go about imitating the river?
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2. "The seed cannot sprout upwards without simultaneously sending roots into the ground," says an Egyptian proverb.
Keep that thought in mind as you head into your next phase of growth. What part of you needs to deepen as you rise up? What growth needs to unfold in the hidden places as you gravitate toward the light?
How can you go about balancing and stabilizing your ascension with a downward penetration?
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3. Dumb suffering is the kind of suffering you're compulsively drawn back to over and over again out of habit. It's familiar, and thus perversely comfortable.
Smart suffering is the kind of pain that surprises you with valuable teachings and inspires you to see the world with new eyes.
While stupid suffering is often born of fear, wise suffering is typically stirred up by love. The dumb, unproductive stuff comes from allowing yourself to be controlled by your early conditioning and from doing things that are out of harmony with your essence.
The smart, useful variety arises out of an intention to approach life as an interesting work of art and uncanny game that's worthy of your curiosity.
Come up with two more definitions about the difference between dumb suffering and smart suffering.
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4. My friend Riley was the first member of her family to attend college. None of her hardscrabble Irish forebears had ever pursued higher education. In her senior year, Riley began having nightmares of her relatives trying to stop her from finishing school. In one recurring dream, her great-grandfather burned all her textbooks. In another, a mob of aunts and uncles tackled her and held her down as she tried to get to class.
Despite these psychic obstacles, Riley persevered in her studies and eventually got her diploma. The week after graduation, she had another dream: A host of her ancestors came to her in the form of a great choir singing songs in praise of her success.
Riley's psychotherapist speculated that the dream meant she had not only overcome the inertia of her heritage, but had also healed an ancient wound of her family going back many generations.
Is there a similar accomplishment you're capable of? What is it?
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5. Poet Kay Ryan told the Christian Science Monitor how she cultivates the inspiration to write. She rouses the sense of a "self-imposed emergency," thereby calling forth psychic resources that usually materialize only in response to a crisis.
Please note that she doesn't provoke an actual emergency: She doesn't arrange to have a loved one get pinned beneath the wheels of a car.
She doesn't climb out onto the window ledge on the 22nd story of a high-rise. Instead, she visualizes hypothetical situations that galvanize her to shift into a dramatically heightened state of awareness.
What imagined emergencies could you invoke to inspire your deep self to rise up and make its mark?
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6. If you're reading this, you're probably not a Cambodian orphan who grew up enslaved in a brothel or a Sudanese man kidnapped by a militia and forced to do heavy labor 18 hours a day or one of the millions of other victims of human trafficking around the world.
But you may be yoked and subjugated in a less literal way, perhaps to a debilitating drug or an abusive relationship or a job that brings out the worst in you or a fearful fantasy about the looming collapse of civilization's infrastructure.
The good news is that you have the power to escape your bondage. Maybe it'll help you muster the strength you need if I remind you that your freedom won't be anywhere near as difficult to achieve as that of the Pakistani boy tied to a carpet loom in a dark room around the clock or the Nigerian woman who's beaten daily as she toils in the sugar cane fields for no pay.
Try this: When you feel overwhelmed by the sadness of your problems or the addiction of your compulsions, put on your best clothes and clean toilets at a homeless shelter, or give foot massages to workers at a sewage disposal plant, or sing songs, sip champagne, and play card games with patients at a psychiatric hospital.
Be ready to get hit upside the soul with exotic varieties of ecstasy, which such acts may unleash.
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7. "Watch out for the dark side of your own idealism and of your moral sense," says Howard Bloom. "Both come from our arsenal of natural instincts. And both easily degenerate into an excuse for attacks on others. When our righteous indignation breathes the flames of anger against a 'villain,' we all too often become a fang in nature's scheme of tooth and claw."
What's the dark side of your idealism and morality?
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8. Traditionally, the Seven Deadly Sins—actions most likely to wound the soul—are pride, lust, gluttony, anger, envy, sloth, and covetousness.
But we have formulated a fresh set of soul-harmers, the Four Foolish Virtues. They are as follows:
(1) being analytical to such extremes that you repress your intuition;
(2) sacrificing your pleasure through a compulsive attachment to duty;
(3) tolerating excessive stress because you assume it helps you accomplish more;
(4) being so knowledgeable that you neglect to be curious.
Are you victimized by any of these Four Foolish Virtues? If so, what are you going to do about it?
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9. James Hillman and Michael Ventura wrote the book We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy and the World's Getting Worse.
They propose that resolving our problems may not necessarily come from talking about our deep, private feelings with a trusted counselor.
Instead, the best approach might be to go out into the world and do good works like helping the underprivileged or fighting for social justice.
Try their approach as a prescription for one of your personal problems.
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10. "Picture the Grand Canyon," says Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield. "Every hundred years, a child comes by and throws a mustard seed into it. In the time it takes to fill the hole in the earth with mustard seeds, one mahakalpa will have passed. To perfect the virtuous heart—the joy of integrity—takes a thousand mahakalpas."
If that's true, then you've still got a lot of work to do. The good news is that civilization is in the midst of a critical turning point that could tremendously expedite your ripening. So you could make unusually great progress toward the goal of perfecting the virtuous heart in the next 40 years.
For best results, meditate often on the phrase "the joy of integrity." Get familiar with the pleasurable emotion that comes from acting with impeccability. And try out this idea from Gandhi: Integrity is the royal road to your inner freedom.
P.S. Oddly enough, the work of perfecting the virtuous heart is very effective in helping you master the art of cultivating everyday ecstasy. Meditate on the connection.
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Words by Charles Kettering
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HOW'S YOUR KOYAANISQATSKI DOING?
In the language of the Hopi Indians, koyaanisqatsi means "crazy life," "life in turmoil," or "life out of balance." It's usually invoked to describe a culture that's in disarray because of corruption and lack of vision.
Right now, I'm using it to identify a chaotic state that each of us periodically goes through in our personal life. It's a phase when we lose our moorings, when we're out of touch with our moral center.
On the one hand, it's uncomfortable and disorienting. On the other hand, the brain-scrambling it stirs up is often a blessing. It flushes out mental habits that no longer serve us. It provokes creative innovations by rearranging the contents of our psyche.
When was your last appointment with koyaanisqatsi? When's your next one?
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WEIRD ELDERS
Michael Meade says: "In old traditions those who acted as elders were considered to have one foot in daily life and the other foot in the otherworld. Elders acted as a bridge between the visible world and the unseen realms of spirit and soul. A person in touch with the otherworld stands out because something normally invisible can be seen through them.
"The old word for having a foot in each world is 'weird.' The original sense of weird involved both fate and destiny. Becoming weird enough to be wise requires that a person learn to accommodate the strange way they are shaped within and aimed at the world.
"An old idea suggests that those seeking for an elder should look for someone weird enough to be wise. For just as there can be no general wisdom, there are no 'normal’ elders. Normal bespeaks the 'norms’ that society uses to regulate people, whereas an awakened destiny always involves connections to the weird and the warp of life.
"In Norse mythology, as in Shakespeare, the Fates appear as the Weird Sisters who hold time and the timeless together.
"Those who would become truly wise must become weird enough to be in touch with timeless things and abnormal enough to follow the guidance of the unseen. Elders are supposed to be weird, not simply 'weirdoes,’ but strange and unusual in meaningful ways.
"Elders are supposed to be more in touch with the otherworld, but not out of touch with the struggles in this world. Elders have one foot firmly in the ground of survival and another in the realm of great imagination. This double-minded stance serves to help the living community and even helps the species survive.”
– Michael Meade, Fate and Destiny: The Two Agreements of the Soul
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GIFTS
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Go to https://RealAstrology.com . Register or log in. On the new page, click on "Subscribe / Renew" under "Daily Text Message Horoscopes" in the right-hand column.
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P.S.: No pressure, though! I understand that some of you don't have enough money yourself, and it wouldn't make sense for you to give some to me.
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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:
Newly-Identified Species of Transparent ‘Glass’ Frogs Unveiled in Amazing Photos From Ecuador. https://tinyurl.com/2p9fr9b8
She Makes GOOD Happen, By Investing in Women-Led Companies: Livin’ Good Currency Podcast. https://tinyurl.com/5n7v6zea
University Gives Unexpected Bonus To All Employees Saying Thanks for Their Service During Covid. https://tinyurl.com/39mkx9ab
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For a lot more pronoiac resources and ideas, read my book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings
Available at Bookshop.org: https://tinyurl.com/548hp8y8
Available at Powells: https://bit.ly/PowellsPronoia
Available at Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/PronoiaBN
Available at Amazon: https://bit.ly/Pronoia
A free preview of the book is available here: https://tinyurl.com/PronoiaPreview
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Please tell me your own nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES: Truthrooster@gmail.com.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning April 7
Copyright 2022 by Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): To provide the right horoscope, I must introduce you to three new words. The first is "orphic," defined as "having an importance or meaning not apparent to the senses nor comprehensible to the intellect; beyond ordinary understanding." Here's the second word: "ludic," which means "playful; full of fun and high spirits." The third word is "kalon," which refers to "profound, thorough beauty." Now I will coordinate those terms to create a prophecy in accordance with your astrological aspects. Ready? I predict you will generate useful inspirations and energizing transformations for yourself by adopting a ludic attitude as you seek kalon in orphic experiments and adventures.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I love your steadfastness, intense effort, and stubborn insistence on doing what's right. Your ability to stick to the plan even when chaos creeps in is admirable. But during the coming weeks, I suggest you add a nuance to your approach. Heed the advice of martial artist Bruce Lee: "Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves."
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini-born basketball coach Pat Summitt won Olympic medals, college championships, and presidential awards. She had a simple strategy: "Here's how I'm going to beat you. I'm going to outwork you. That's it. That's all there is to it." I recommend that you apply her approach to everything you do for the rest of 2022. According to my analysis, you're on course for a series of satisfying victories. All you have to do is nurture your stamina as you work with unwavering focus and resilient intelligence.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In Britain, 70 percent of the land is owned by one percent of the population. Globally, one percent of the population owns 43 percent of the wealth. I hope there's a much better distribution of resources within your own life. I hope that the poorer, less robust parts of your psyche aren't being starved at the expense of the privileged and highly functioning aspects. I hope that the allies and animals you tend to take for granted are receiving as much of your love and care as the people you're trying to impress or win over. If any adjustments are necessary, now is a favorable time to make them.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): TV show creator Joey Soloway says, "The only way things will change is when we're all wilder, louder, riskier, sillier, and unexpectedly overflowing with surprise." Soloway's Emmy Award-winning work on Transparent, one of the world's first transgender-positive shows, suggests that their formula has been effective for them. I'm recommending this same approach to you in the coming weeks, Leo. It will help you summon the extra courage and imagination you will need to catalyze the necessary corrections and adjustments.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain," wrote mythologist Joseph Campbell. I don't think his cure is foolproof. The lingering effects of some old traumas aren't so simple and easy to dissolve. But I suspect Campbell's strategy will work well for you in the coming weeks. You're in a phase of your astrological cycle when extra healing powers are available. Some are obvious, and some are still partially hidden. It will be your sacred duty to track down every possible method that could help you banish at least some of your suffering and restore at least some of your joie de vivre.
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Factual information and reasonable thinking alone are not sufficient to guide you through life’s labyrinthine tests. You need and deserve regular deliveries of uncanny revelation.
One of your inalienable rights as a human being should therefore be to receive mysteriously useful omens on a regular basis. In this spirit, I offer you the free weekly horoscopes you read here.
If you ever want more, and think it's worth paying for, try my EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny and where you're headed.
To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope online, go to https://RealAstrology.com
Register and/or log in through the main page.
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The cost is $6 per sign online. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.)
You can also listen over the phone by calling 1-877-873-4888. The cost is $1.99 per minute. Each forecast is 4-5 minutes long.
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"The best part about your audio horoscopes is that they pat me on the head and kick me in the butt at the same time."
—Rita Lazarus, San Diego
"Your audio oracles often go beyond helping me find the truth -- they inspire me to find the useful, practical truth."
—Patrick Kinder, Montreal
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lifted from https://www.facebook.com/intersectionelle/
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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You know who Jimi Hendrix was, right? He was a brilliant and influential rock guitarist. As for Miles Davis, he was a Hall of Fame-level trumpeter and composer. You may be less familiar with Tony Williams. A prominent rock critic once called him "the best drummer in the world." In 1968, those three superstars gathered in the hope of recording an album. But they wanted to include a fourth musician, Paul McCartney, to play bass for them. They sent a telegram to the ex-Beatle, but it never reached him. And so the supergroup never happened. I mention this in the hope that it will render you extra alert for invitations and opportunities that arrive in the coming weeks—perhaps out of nowhere. Don't miss out! Expect the unexpected. Read between the lines. Investigate the cracks.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Poet Anne Carson claims that "a page with a poem on it is less attractive than a page with a poem on it and some tea stains." I agree. If there are tea stains, it probably means that the poem has been studied and enjoyed. Someone has lingered over it, allowing it to thoroughly permeate their consciousness. I propose we make the tea-stained poem your power metaphor for the coming weeks, Scorpio. In other words, shun the pristine, the spotless, the untouched. Commune with messy, even chaotic things that have been loved and used.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian author Martha Beck articulated the precise message you need to hear right now. She wrote, "Here is the crux of the matter, the distilled essence, the only thing you need to remember: When considering whether to say yes or no, you must choose the response that feels like freedom. Period." I hope you adopt her law in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. You should avoid responses and influences that don't feel liberating. I realize that's an extreme position to take, but I think it's the right one for now. Where does your greatest freedom lie? How can you claim it? What shifts might you need to initiate?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I'm glad you have been exploring your past and reconfiguring your remembrances of the old days and old ways. I'm happy you've been transforming the story of your life. I love how you've given yourself a healing gift by reimagining your history. It's fine with me if you keep doing this fun stuff for a while longer. But please also make sure you don't get so immersed in bygone events that you're weighed down by them. The whole point of the good work you've been doing is to open up your future possibilities. For inspiration, read this advice from author Milan Kundera: "We must never allow the future to collapse under the burden of memory."
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian historian Mary Frances Berry offered counsel that I think all Aquarians should keep at the heart of their philosophy during the coming weeks. She wrote, "The time when you need to do something is when no one else is willing to do it, when people are saying it can't be done." I hope you trust yourself enough to make that your battle cry. I hope you will keep summoning all the courage you will regularly need to implement its mandate.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): What's the leading cause of deforestation in Latin America? Logging for wood products? Agricultural expansion? New housing developments? Nope. It's raising cattle so people everywhere can eat beef and cheese and milk. This industry also plays a major role in the rest of the world's ongoing deforestation tragedy. Soaring greenhouse gas emissions aren't entirely caused by our craving for burgers and milk and cheese, of course, but our climate emergency would be significantly less dramatic if we cut back our consumption. That's the kind of action I invite you to take in the coming months, Pisces. My analysis of astrological omens suggests that you now have even more power than usual to serve the collective good of humanity in whatever specific ways you can. (PS: Livestock generates 14.5 percent of our greenhouse gases, equal to the emissions from all cars, trucks, airplanes, and ships combined.)
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Homework: What's the biggest good change you could imagine making in your life right now? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com
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Submissions sent to Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter or in response to "homework assignments" may be published in a variety of formats at Rob Brezsny's discretion, including but not limited to newsletters, books, the Free Will Astrology column, and Free Will Astrology website. We reserve the right to edit submissions for length, style, and content.
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Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright 2022 Rob Brezsny
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Thank you, Rob, for including your friend Riley's dreams. My background is in Jungian/post Jungian psychology so I hold dreams in the highest regard. Riley's story is powerful. Understanding our dreams - interpreting them far beyond the obvious (simple explanations) - has tremendous power in our ability to affect change in our lives. And in this case, to heal generational traumas and patterns.
love this so much that I shared with another Jungian dream interpreter.
Many blessings! I've been following you for decades (bought Pronoia in 2009, I think). Very happy to see you on substack. Makes it much easier for me to comment! :)
All of it. So timely this week! Thank you!