Separate Breath and Mind

The breath is an element, part of the wind element. Awareness of the breath is something else. So you’ve got two things that have come together. Now, when you can separate them—through realizing the breath’s true nature as an element—the mind can stand on its own.

The Split Isn’t What We Think It Is

https://prepareforchange.net/2025/12/18/the-split-isnt-what-we-think-it-is/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-split-isnt-what-we-think-it-is

The Time for Compassion

When you begin to get a real taste of the teachings, glimpse egolessness, and can finally look up from your own suffering to see the suffering of others, it’s time to talk about compassion.

Choose What You Make

Life lays out the same materials for everyone, and it’s up to us if we want to make misery or a pizza with a touch of surprise.

Don’t try to fix people; try to love them. Love will do the fixing.

Inspired by the teaching of Reb Noson of Breslov (1780-1844)

When Fair Doesn’t Feel Fair – Emuna Has the Final Say

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BS'D

“Fairness is not a feeling. It’s a Divine truth only Hashem fully understands.”

We often interpret life through the lens of fairness. “This isn’t fair,” we say, when our heart aches or things don’t go as planned. But what is fairness? It’s a moving target, shaped by our moods, our memories, and our personal expectations. That’s why emuna becomes our anchor — the truth that doesn’t shift, bend, or get broken by pain.

Rav Dessler ztk’l teaches that the soul carries Hashem’s signature: Emet — absolute truth. That truth isn't determined by what we see, but by what Hashem knows. Even when life appears unjust, Hashem’s chesed and exactness are orchestrating every detail with eternal wisdom.

Breaking Through the Bottlenecks of Spiritual Evolution Staying Whole in a Time of Pressure

As we move toward the close of another year, many people are feeling stretched, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and financially. At a time of year that traditionally invites joy, reflection, connection, and rest, headlines are heavy with reports of violence, narratives conflict, and the pace of events can feel relentless. It’s understandable if you feel unsettled.

But this moment does not signal failure or collapse. It signals pressure at a threshold, chaos at a turning point.
Humanities Crucible – Refining Precious Souls

I’ve often used the metaphor of how diamonds begin as coal and are transformed through immense pressure and heat.

Metal, too, is tempered, made stronger, when exposed to fire. These are not just poetic metaphors, but reminders of how growth and resilience are forged. From time to time, the human soul must endure similar conditions in order to become stronger, wiser, and more prepared for the next phase of its evolution.

Across spiritual traditions, psychological models, and even the natural sciences, growth is rarely linear. Evolution often slows at key transition points. It’s not to punish us, but to reorganize and refine us. Like carbon transformed into diamond under sustained pressure, or metal strengthened through tempering, human consciousness evolves through moments that test flexibility, coherence, and compassion. If you’re feeling the pressure, you’re not alone. What we are experiencing now may feel uncomfortable, but it is not without purpose.
Pressure Is Not Punishment — It’s a Catalyst

In times of collective stress, it’s easy to assume that something has gone wrong or that humanity has taken yet another wrong turn. Some might feel that we are somehow failing a test. But pressure, in itself, is not evidence of decline. In nature, pressure is what strengthens structures, refines materials, and initiates transformation. Without it, systems stagnate.

The same is true for human consciousness. Periods of intensity often arise when old ways of thinking, relating, and organizing reality can no longer support what is trying to emerge. These moments are uncomfortable precisely because they ask us to release habits that once provided stability, but now limit growth.

Another helpful analogy is the willow tree in a storm.

It bends with the wind and remains firmly rooted. If we become too rigid in our thoughts, beliefs, or emotional responses, we risk breaking under pressure instead of growing through it.
Nature offers another instructive mirror. In many herd animals, strength is refined through testing, not annihilation. Those who protect the bloodline challenge one another to establish resilience and leadership, but these contests are rarely to the death. The purpose is not domination for its own sake; it is to ensure the health and protection of the group. Strength that destroys the herd defeats its own purpose.

Leon C. Megginson, was a Professor of Management and Marketing at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. His quote started out as a paraphrase. Megginson wrote in 1963:

“According to Darwin’s Origin of Species, it is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.”

Human societies, too, are tested by pressure and conflict. When challenge is held within a cooperative framework, it can sharpen discernment, responsibility, and care for the whole. When rivalry becomes detached from shared purpose, it turns destructive and weakens the collective. The lesson is not to eliminate challenge, but to channel it, so that power serves cooperation and cohesion, rather than the fracture of society.
Spiritual Bottlenecks and the Dark Night of the Soul

Many traditions describe a phase sometimes called the dark night of the soul – a period where certainty dissolves, familiar supports fall away, and deeper questions surface. It’s a natural bottleneck in the process of evolution.

Growth slows at these thresholds because something fundamental is being restructured. We cannot rush through them, and we cannot go around them. Avoidance may delay the process, but it does not eliminate the need to pass through. And, as the saying goes, it’s always darkest before dawn.

I’d like to share something I heard channeled by Bashar from yesterday’s post. It was from an entity is known as Ashayia which translates in our language as Oracle:

“The dark night of the soul calls forth the light within.

And when the light of truth comes forth, the blind shall see once again.”

Perhaps that message was about the reopening of our Third Eye.
The Chakras: Gateways of Transformation

Spiritual teacher Drunvalo Melchizedek once described how human evolution can be viewed through the lens of densities, moving from the third density into higher levels of awareness, and how the chakra system offers a useful map for this journey. In his view, certain internal gateways act as bottlenecks where deeper integration is required before progress can continue.

Social Media is full of discussions about humanity moving from third density awareness into fourth, fifth, and higher levels of consciousness. In this framework, the third chakra, known as the Solar Plexus or Manipura, is associated with personal power, confidence, and self-esteem. It is the energetic center where unresolved fear, anger, or suppressed emotion can accumulate. Third chakra – third density.

When these emotions are not acknowledged or integrated, they can slow personal growth and, over time, may even manifest as physical or emotional imbalance or illness. Inner work at this level is essential before higher states of awareness can be stabilized.

Many teachings also describe two particularly challenging transition points in human development: the heart and the third eye.
The heart represents our capacity to integrate polarity, to hold compassion without losing discernment, and to remain open without becoming overwhelmed. In times of division, the heart is tested. Can we stay present and loving without hardening or collapsing?

The third eye represents perception and intuition; the ability to see clearly without distortion. This gateway is tested when information is overwhelming or contradictory. Discernment can tip into suspicion, and intuition can become clouded by fear or projection.

One of the lesser-discussed bottlenecks in human evolution occurs as people move from heart-centered awareness into intuitive perception. At this stage, the 5th or throat chakra, many become absorbed in external events, revelations, and information streams, mistaking accumulation of knowledge for inner knowing. They feel a need to share what they’ve learned from external sources.

True maturation requires a shift from outer sources to inner discernment, from constant interpretation to quiet alignment. When intuition stabilizes and the heart remains the anchor, awareness naturally moves beyond urgency and into coherence.

These gateways cannot be bypassed. You can’t suppress feelings of trauma with drugs and/or alcohol as they only delay the outcome. We must move through uncertainty with integrity intact.

Flexibility Over Certainty

What determines whether individuals and societies move through these bottlenecks intact is not strength in the conventional sense, but flexibility. Rigid systems, whether physical, psychological, or spiritual, fracture under pressure. Flexible systems adapt.

Faith, in this context, is not blind belief. It is trust in a larger process, paired with personal responsibility. It is the willingness to release the illusion of control without surrendering awareness, discernment, or agency.

Staying Whole in a Fragmented World

Remaining grounded during times of upheaval does not require disengagement from the world, nor does it demand constant vigilance. It requires coherence, alignment between inner state, values, and actions.

One healthy form of disengagement may be stepping back from toxic or fear-driven news cycles that leave us feeling anxious, powerless, or unsettled.

Instead, we can consciously shift our focus toward what restores balance: A bit of humor, walking in nature, listening to calming music, participating in spiritual or community gatherings, or spending time with those who share our values.

Finding one’s “soul tribe”, a safe space to speak openly, process emotions, or engage in collective prayer or meditation, can be deeply calming in times of stress.

Simple practices matter here: honest communication, rest, moments of joy, and compassion toward self and others. These are not luxuries. They are stabilizers that help prevent fragmentation under stress.
Maturity and the Next Phase of Evolution

If humanity is to move into a more cooperative and expansive phase of existence, whether we frame that as spiritual evolution, cultural maturity, or participation in a broader human community, we must learn to coexist across differences. Division based on race, religion, politics, or appearance is incompatible with any advanced form of collective life.

If humanity is to mature into a civilization capable of broader cooperation, both here on Earth and, potentially, beyond, we must begin by reconciling our differences now.

This moment, difficult as it may feel, is an invitation to grow up rather than break down.

Crossing the Threshold

Chaos and pressure are the crucibles we endure, burning away what no longer serves us, refining what remains, and leaving behind the strongest and most coherent essence.

As we enter a new year, a new cycle, and a new day, the invitation is not to wait for a savior, nor to predict the future or escape the present, but to move forward intact. Pressure will continue to exist, but it does not have to define us. It’s a catalyst for change.

As an old saying reminds us, order can emerge from chaos. Pressure, when met with awareness, has the power to transmute and transform.

By staying grounded, flexible, and heart-centered, we give ourselves the best chance not only to endure this period, but to emerge from it with greater clarity, compassion, and coherence.

The work is not about becoming something else. It’s about rising from the ashes of what was – Refining. It is about becoming more fully who we already are… divine spiritual beings having a very human experience.