Ben Ralston

Why Life is So Difficult in the World Today (and Mankind in Such a Mess).

Photograph: ‘Eight-Tear-Year-Old Woman’ – www.paulprescott.com

You are pure consciousness. Perfect, sacred, divine. This is the essence of your being and it is the essence of all being.

Whether the being of a stone, stream, star, or an animal, all is consciousness. The universe itself is built with building blocks of consciousness but no microscope will ever be strong enough to see it.

It can only be felt.

Our ancient ancestors felt it. That is why they said that stones and streams and stars had their own spirits. They felt the spirits of the stars through the core of their own being, their own spirit, and they gave the stars names.



We have become separated from our own spirit.. And so we no longer feel the spirit of the world around us, even though that is why we are here – in this body, on this earth, at this time. We are here to experience relationship. To know the spirit of the world around us through our own sense of being. That is the purpose of this life, truly. To Be, but to Be in relationship to the world around.

A few choose the path of renunciation (renouncing worldly pleasure in favor of the search for enlightenment) – as did I, until I met my beautiful wife. Some choose a life partner while others have many partners along the way. For most of us choices include children, friendships, and professional relationships. We also have relationships with the Earth, our animal neighbors, the stars above.

Ultimately this is the true test of our skill in life: are we able to truly be ourselves even whilst in relationship to others and the world around us?

It’s quite a test. Let’s be honest – most of us are failing miserably! Most of us barely manage the first part – to know ourselves deeply.

Why is this? Why is it that we feel so alone, disconnected, and lost? Why have we been making the same mistakes – history repeating itself – again and again, generation after generation? Why is the divorce rate higher than ever; more war than ever; more fear and stress and crisis?

The answer is very simple: trauma. Mankind experienced a very specific trauma, the trauma of separation (this is what the biblical story of the Garden of Eden is about), and since then has been stuck in the belief that we are indeed each of us separate beings. As long as we believe ourselves to be essentially alone, we have to fend for ourselves – and then fear, greed, and corruption are born.

How and when we first experienced this trauma of separation is almost impossible to say. Perhaps it coincided with the development of our highly advanced neo-cortex brain (the tree of knowledge): the part of us that is unique amongst all these species here on Earth. As we became more ‘intelligent’, so we lost touch with our essential selves and our sacred relationship with nature. Our Egos were born in all their terrible, petty, controlling glory. We then – using our newfound intelligence – began to birth our children in unnatural ways and our sense of separation was confirmed and compounded.

But the real question is not why this happened, but what are we going to do about it?

Positive thinking, when you have a deep subconscious fear, does nothing. Energy healing can be a temporary ‘band-aid’, but without removing the cause, the problem persists. The psychological approach is highly inefficient because the problem is not ‘in our heads’ – it’s in our bodies. It’s felt as a concrete, very real, physical sense of separation. We sense that we are deeply disconnected – not only from the world around us, but – more importantly – from our own spirit.

What can we do about it?

Well, first of all, the fact that you have read this far into this article is encouraging: you are interested in your own Self. You want to know true love and be done with fear. You want to do more than just survive; you want to thrive. And you want to experience the whole of your being, not just a limited perception of it.

So please, keep reading. Keep investigating yourself. Continue to search.

But know that ultimately what separates you from the truth and freedom and love that you yearn for is just like a shadow – insubstantial. And just as easily as you walk through your shadow, so too can you let go of subconscious blockages. In my next article here on Naturala I’ll explain how.

Subconscious blockages have no substance. They are not permanent, and therefore not real. They are like emotions, thoughts, feelings – they can be experienced, but they do not define you. They are not you. They seem real – but they are not.

What is real, what is permanent, is consciousness. And it’s the same consciousness that is in every living being, and every corner of the universe. You are not alone or separate. That illusion could not be further from the truth.

What Your Body Needs (Once a Year). ~ Ben Ralston

Want more Magic?
January 2001 I went to India and trained as a Yoga teacher. The hardest, roughest, toughest, most grueling, painful, and downright miserable month of my life also marked a turning point – when I began to take responsibility for myself, find my path, and really live.
Since then, I’ve taken and led many retreats. I can’t imagine going more than a year or two without one now.
My body needs it.
So does yours.
Modern life is fast and super-stressful. We get sucked into the mundane before we can say ‘must-be-mindful’. Spat out again on the other side of a lost year, all those unresolved resolutions shored up in our subconscious, we end up waging war with ourselves, not realizing that the real enemy is the system that we allow ourselves to get caught up in – thinking that we need it.
We don’t need it – it needs us. We don’t need anything. And that’s what you realize – deeply – when you go on a retreat.

You realize that you’re fine just as you are.

No WiFi, no cell phones, no media blare – nothing but nature.
And of course, there’s the Yoga (or Tai Chi), the fresh, healthy food, the conscious relaxation, the sense of being surrounded by like-minded people (you know, community), the deep breathing, and the space and time to simply enjoy.
These are things that human beings need daily, and that most people are starved of.
The moment it hit me that retreats are actually important – was when I finished leading my first one. It was mid-Summer, on a Croatian Island, and we’d started the week (35 of us) holding hands standing in a circle, as I chanted a sacred mantra for auspicious beginnings.
At the end of the week we stood in a circle holding hands and I chanted a sacred mantra for auspicious endings, and then we walked out from under the canopy that covered us.
Everyone outside was standing looking up at the sky, open mouthed, pointing, in awe.
There was a perfect circular rainbow halo around the sun:
Pretty auspicious huh?!
I’d never seen anything like it before in my life – and it felt like (accuse me of having a God-complex if you will!) a divine omen, an (almost) neon flashing sign stating loud and clear:
“Yes, you’re on the right path, keep up the good work”
So I keep on taking and leading retreats. I believe that we need to break out of the system occasionally, remind ourselves of what’s important and what’s not.
And in the same way that we all know we need a weekend once a week, I hope that one day we’ll all retreat once a year (just like we get our cars serviced routinely). To step out of the mundane and remind ourselves that life is sacred, magical and mysterious, and to actively celebrate and participate in that awareness.
I’m running a retreat in August this year, on the Croatian island of Iž. Have a look at the beautiful video of Iž below, and if you’d like more information, go here.
And if not this year, then next. And if not one of my retreats, then someone else’s – you owe it to yourself and to the world around you to stay connected to the joy and wonder and magic deep inside of yourself.
Don’t get caught up in life. Live it – fully, heartedly, meaningfully. And if you’re not sure how, find out.

Our time here is precious, and all too fleeting.

Spread the love now – share this with the world.
Resource: The Sivananda Yoga Organization offers year-round retreats in all of it’s nine Ashrams around the world. They’re cheap, the teaching is of a routinely high standard, and food is excellent. It’s not for everyone – it’s a ‘no-frills’ experience. But if you really want to retreat – in the true sense of the word – then I thoroughly recommend it.

Take responsibility – don’t hand over your power to others.

Somebody told me about a friend who is obsessed with the world ending in 2012.
Guess what – the world won’t end this year in 2012. It probably won’t end for a very, very long time.
Until it does, please don’t give away your power to anyone that would have you relinquish your responsibility. Whether they be conspiracy theorists, psychics, healers, spiritual teachers, yoga ‘guru’s… anyone.
Right now, there is important work to be done – for yourself, for those around you, for the planet, for future generations.
Let’s do that work, and stop worrying about an uncertain future. Focus on the present – be real, stay grounded, and do what you need to do to cultivate more joy.
Be more free.
Spread more love.

Thanks for listening – if it’s of value, please share.

How to let go or release buried emotions and suppressed feelings?

A talk about healing and personal development. What causes our emotional problems, and how can we solve them?
Answer – trauma is what causes almost all our problems, and healing trauma solves them. And healing trauma can be fast, easy, and fun!

Hope you didn’t get too seasick watching it! I’ll try to keep future videos a little more ‘stable 🙂