Category Archives: Uncategorized

by | December 27, 2022 · 9:50 am

The tree of life

Some 2,000 years ago a soul incarnated into the family of a simple carpenter and his wife in the town of Nazareth of what was then part of the Roman province of Judaea.

Jesus of Nazareth was to change the world for generations to come and elevate human consciousness to a new level.

From an early age, the scriptures tell us, Jesus astounded the temple priests with his knowledge and wisdom. By the time he was a young man his revolutionary teachings and miracle healings were drawing huge crowds and followers.

The threatened priesthood

The priesthood of the day saw him as a grave threat when he exposed their hypocrisy and their literal interpretation of the scriptures.

Jesus led by example showing us that service for the downtrodden, the sick, the vulnerable, and the discriminated minorities was the stepping stone to creating a life of bliss.

The God-given meaning and purpose of life is closely intertwined with the unraveling of the veils covering the soul and living who you were born to become.

It was far removed from abiding to the rules and regulations of a belief structure controlled and imposed by the priesthood.

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Ancient scriptures revealed

The long hidden texts of St. Thomas, discovered only in recent times, reveal early Christian teachings deeply embedded in experiential Spirituality and multi-layered interpretation that read much like Zen Koans of Buddhist tradition. Jesus is quoted as saying:

“Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.”

This reminds much of the inscription in the Ancient Greek Temple of Delphi: Knowing Thyself, Knowing who you are not and then finding the God within – or your truth

Jesus was crucified in a place called Calvary in Jerusalem at the age of 33. In Kabbalistic teaching 33 is a magical number. It is the number of steps on Jacob’s ladder on which the angels walked bringing the wisdom of heaven unto earth or aligning with the higher (Christ) self.

Calvary in its original Hebrew form means “place of the skull.”

The arbor vitae in the brain is also described as the tree of life. It lies within the center of the cerebellum and helps provide valuable sensory information to the brain, protruding from the skull.

In Kundalini Yoga energy rises up the 33 vertebrae of the spinal cord to the seventh chakra located at the crown of the head, illuminating the third eye or pineal gland, your spiritual consciousness.

Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection after three days is ultimately a story of salvation from suffering, after transgressing through the dark night of the soul.

There is a surrendering to forgiveness and grace. After a point of great suffering and doubt Jesus could look upon the people causing his suffering and forgive, knowing that it all ultimately had a higher meaning.

Sacrifice and expansion of consciousness

Making sacrifices expands your conscious awareness. When you transmute the lower energy vibrations rooted in the emotions of fear, anxiety, greed and hate, you achieve Christ consciousness – the 33rd degree of consciousness – unconditional love.

According to the Mystics God is un­separated from all things, for God is in all things and is more inwardly in them than they are in themselves.

St. Augustine is quoted as saying that the soul has within her all knowledge, and whatever we practice outwardly serves only to awaken that knowledge.

In places of solitude and in the quiet spaces of nature the cracks open to the wisdom and window of your soul’s longing, to the depths of your purpose and destiny – to the Christ within.

Reino Gevers – Author – Speaker – Mentor

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by | December 13, 2022 · 6:29 pm

Is society fraying at the edges?

Life is a choice. You can see the colour, the nuanced beauty in all, the diversity of creation and the magic.

Or, you see everything in just black and white

Within the walls of a turreted castle in the east German state of Thuringia a disparate group of plotters including a judge, a celebrity cook, a prince, and a former general of an elite army unit planned seizure before Christmas this year of the country’s parliament and replace modern Germany’s political structures with a monarchical Reich with a king at its head.

In the past, the fringe group of “Reichsburger” fanatics was at the receiving end of jokes but the country’s security services were sufficiently concerned that they launched one of the biggest security raids involving several thousand police raids on more than two dozen properties. All the plotters will now be spending Christmas behind bars.

What makes well-educated, upper-middle-class people lose the plot?

Most western countries are having to deal with rising populist movements that question the very foundations of democratic norms and values. Meanwhile in Russia “Tsar” Vladimir Putin decides to invade one of the world’s major breadbaskets plunging much of the Third World into a food crisis, an energy price shock in all the major economies and the largest refugee crisis in central Europe since the end of World War II.

The pandemic and its repercussions have only compounded the underlying currents that come with major economic and social changes that we are seeing in much of western society. Communities, institutions and beliefs that have stood rock solid for centuries are seemingly fraying at the edges.

Family and community

From the end of the 1950s we have seen a growing emphasis on individuation as opposed to community. Personal expression, freedom of movement and living one’s life purpose to the full has come at the expense of the individual being subservient to the needs of the community, the group or the family as a whole. It has come on the tailwinds of the harmonious 1950s family unit being exposed as the myth it always was. Women were largely disempowered and forced to service large babyboomer families. A revolt was inevitable. Young women were at the forefront of the 1960s anti-establishment movement. Divorce, multiple patchwork families, same-sex marriages are on the one hand commonplace but also deeply disoncerting to fundamentalists. Women are mostly the first to end a dysfunctional relationship. It is very often the male part of a relationship that refuses to change from the traditional role model and pursue a path of self-development and reflection.

Photo by Krizjohn Rosales on Pexels.com

The male identity crisis

Young women are far outpacing their male counterparts on all levels starting from school achievement to successful career paths while men form by far the largest group affected by addiction, mental health problems, homelessness and violent crime. Especially during puberty young men are in need of fathers stepping up to their role in providing structure and orientation. Sadly, this is mostly not the case with the “absent father” playing a major role in the mental health problems of young men who seek orientation in the antiquated gun-slinging “heroic” male figureheads that we find in extremist movements and computer war games.

What you feed your mind with you become

The Internet has revolutionised our world and opened up unlimited communication and new job opportunities. The downside is that it has also scuttled many traditional industries including the local and regional newspaper that was a platform of diverse debate and different opinion. Social media, especially Twitter, has become a platform for grievance culture and confirmation bias. Automated Google algorithms feed us with what we want to read, confirming existing views and biased opinion. We live in information silos. What we feed our mind with we become. And what we notice is that a lot of unhappy people are becoming more unhappy and discontented from what they read and hear. A large portion of the daily information intake is designed to appeal to negative emotions of hate, lust, and greed. Good news just doesn’t sell.

The spiritual disconnect and the crisis of religious institutions

For centuries religion has told us how to behave and what to believe, citing divine will. Much of religion and the priesthood suppressed and separated religion from spirituality. Sexual misconduct and abuse has exposed the hypocrisy and alienated millions of faithful from what they perceived as their spiritual home. The spiritual disconnect and the crisis of the religious institutions has led to countless pseudo-religions that compound the mental health crisis.

For so-called “primitive man” God was never part of a religion but part of fundamental daily experience lived every day in interaction with the world of nature. When God is experiential we cannot believe. We can only experience.

The mental health crisis

The opiod crisis, and other addictions only pinpoint a major mental health crisis. How can you become more resilient and aligned in a fast-changing world that seems increasingly frightening to more and more people? Apart from the basic biological needs that make us no different from the animal kingdom, humans have the deep need to be seen and to be heard. We are spiritual beings in need of purpose and a place in community. Some tips:

  • One of the most effective ways of preventing physical and mental job exhaustion is to nurture friends and relationships. Surround yourself with positively-minded people who uplift and support you.
  • Find a spiritual community to practice a religious ritual that is free from dogma and constraint. It has real life-extending and stress-reducing benefits, according to scientific studies.
  • Spend alone time in nature. The green and blue spaces of nature have a real positive effect on boosing your immune system and aligning yourself with a higher sense of Being.
  • Find a personal mentor who acts as a sounding board in refining your goals and sense of purpose.

First and foremost maintain a critical mindset to your own thoughts and beliefs. They might have been influenced by external voices that have little in common with your individual and authentic soul purpose.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | November 22, 2022 · 12:10 pm

What my elderly dog is teaching me

In human terms, my elderly Dalmatian is well over the age of 80 teaching me many lessons on the passing of form and inevitability that comes with life‘s seasons.

Since Klara first raced into my arms at the age of four months I‘ve known her as my best motivating coach for long walks where she would race ahead tail wagging with joy as she utilized all senses of sound, smell, and touch in complete situational awareness.

From my earliest childhood, I‘ve had dogs around me, and believe they are creatures sent by the Creator to help us become better humans. I was devastated when at the age of three we had to leave our Ridgeback mix „Pajatz“ at the farm in South Africa when the family moved to town.

One of the distant memories is Pajatz constantly standing guard around me. I would gently stroke him behind his ears as he nudged his cold nose into my face. On one occasion he instantly killed an approaching poisonous snake. Dogs are loyal and love unconditionally like few humans can. They will not hesitate one moment to sacrifice their lives in order to save yours.

They will be the first to greet you when you come home. My fox terrier „Stompie“ would be heading for the garden gate some minutes before I came home from school in boundless joy as if we had been separated for weeks as soon as I arrived.

Dogs are emotional shifters

All stressful thoughts and experiences of the day would be instantly removed as „Stompie“ demanded his pat and bring me a ball for him to chase. Later in life during my job at a news agency in Hamburg, Germany I would sometimes bring my dog Akim along. He was a great shifter of toxic emotions. 

Very often colleagues coming to me with an issue would forget the problem after „conversing“ with Akim who even featured in a widely publicized article on the positive effects of well-behaved dogs on office staff.

Klara was my constant companion and sounding board when I dealt with separation, a very stressful divorce, and giving up a home of more than 20 years. Strapped in the passenger seat of my car we took a two-day journey to our new home in Majorca, Spain. She was the star of the show every time we stopped at a petrol station traveling through France.

In contrast to rainy, foggy northern Germany the Mediterranean island of Majorca in our first month on the island offered beautiful blue sky and comfortable walking temperatures in the low 20 degrees Celsius.

With Dalmatians relatively rare in Spain, I every so often hear enthusiastic children running toward us with shouts of „Dalmata“. Klara would stand with stoic calm as an entire school class would converge on her with each child wanting to touch her.

Like dogs, we are social beings

Being rather an introvert my dogs have helped me converse with total strangers and taught me much about happiness and relationships. We have such an affinity to dogs and they to us because we are social beings who thrive when interacting with others. We need our tribe, our herd, our pack, community, friends, and neighbors to stay mentally healthy. Dogs tied to a leash or kept in a pen all day become aggressive and neurotic. Humans living in reclusive isolation become depressed. Solitary confinement over an extended period is one of the worst forms of torture.

During our five years on the island, we have explored mystical paths in the Tramuntana mountains, climbed several 1000-meter peaks, and walked many of the most beautiful beaches, coves, and forests.

Yet, gradually as age takes its inevitable toll I‘ve noticed stiffness in her legs and body. She needs more rest and sleep. Recent health issues included removing two infected teeth and a lump on her leg. But Klara will still follow me with determined loyalty wherever I go and it‘s now my responsibility to choose trails where she is still comfortable and will not over-exert herself.

A walk in the Tramuntana mountains of Majorca

Wisdom comes with age

While younger dogs throw a yapping tantrum, Klara will stand with calm presence as if saying: „Not important. Seen it all. Heard it all. Let‘s now attend to other matters.“

It’s an important life lesson that I have transferred into my return-to-work programs for staff coming back into the workplace after a long-term illness. Unforeseen accidents, life-threatening diseases, and symptoms of age are external circumstances out of your control that will force you into surrender. 

A dog will never mull over that which was and is no more. It is all about what is possible in the here and now. What is still good? What is possible? What can I be grateful for?

We will be making the best of Klara‘s remaining time before she departs for doggy heaven. Life passes us by in rapid succession. What do you do with the remaining days you have left? What relationships need nurturing? What thoughts, beliefs, illusions, and regrets need to be given up? 

As form declines and dissolves awareness grows that spirit in its essence never perishes As the great 13th century Mystic Meister Eckhart is quoted as saying: „In eternity all things are present.“ Or as best-selling author and spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra says: “You are a conscious agent or a soul that’s having a human experience.”

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | November 14, 2022 · 5:23 pm

What fills the soul?

„It is veils that wrap past, present, and future time from your view. When the veils are withdrawn one can see all.“

—  Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani 963 – 1033

The birth of a newborn entering the world is of pure and bare innocence. But as the sages of old teach us the child grows older with layer upon layer in the form of conformity, unworthiness, fears, and insecurities covering the true self. The journey of life then proceeds in another process of unwinding and uncovering the layers of what is true soul nature.

Choosing a spiritual path, which comes often after an epiphany or a wake-up call, then becomes a process of peeling back the layers of programming, trauma, and limitations that have been holding you back from living your truth.

The 19th-century American teacher and philosopher Amos Bronson Alcott said “there are truths that shield themselves behind veils, and are best spoken by implication. Even the sun veils himself in his own rays to blind the gaze of the too curious starer.”

Unveiling the soul is a journey that cannot be fast-tracked. Each uncovering of a veil is preceded by a chapter that has to be lived into maturity.

The shifting of old paradigms

As consciousness expands the veils start thinning and you enter a higher vibrational energy. Old paradigms of self start shifting, and rigid belief systems start falling by the wayside. It is the necessary precondition to make room for the new.

Institutionalized religion most often wraps individuals into a cocoon of what to believe, and how to behave. The purpose of life is to discover your individual true soul path. The journey of life is a journey into BEING.

While religion constitutes a set of externally induced worship practices, beliefs, and ways of conduct, spirituality is experiential. It is a deep connectedness to the moment, opening the cracks to the soul and to something much higher than the self. The spiritual seeker is on a “pathless path” of self-discovery. There are no external rules. The seeker follows an inner call to spirit.

Your voice matters. The world needs you with all your unique abilities and creativity. You are a beautiful person. You have the choice and you are the captain of your soul.

It requires at times a stock-taking of what fills and nurtures your soul. What makes you happy and live a life of bliss?

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

Your relationships are key

One of the biggest tests is to let go of people who are not good for you. They are your secret enemies who are actually preventing you from peeling away the next layer. But you are afraid to lose them or are afraid that you will no longer be loved. Surround yourself with people who emanate positivity, who encourage, nurture, and feed your soul.

Your relationships are key. From the day you were born, you have been surrounded by parents, siblings, carers, and teachers who have molded you into who you are. As a child, you had no other choice but to conform to the norms and behaviors of those around you. But as you grew into puberty and adulthood you will have begun questioning and seeking your own identity.

  • Who am I?
  • Where do I come from and where am I going?
  • What is my soul’s purpose?

What fills and nurtures your soul is a very unique and individual process. But here are some guidelines.

  • It will be serving and in service of something higher than the self.
  • It is unconditional and liberated from the transactional.
  • It triggers within you unlimited creativity and joy.

Do you remember when you were a child before you were conditioned by external expectations? At a time when you were closely aligned to your true soul nature, you might vaguely recall what activity, relationship, and state of BEING elevated you into a high state of bliss and happiness. All these are clues that you can pursue in creating the matrix of the path to purpose and meaning.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | November 8, 2022 · 7:23 am

Inner stock-taking

As we near the end of another year it’s time for inner stock-taking: Was it worth doing what I was doing so far this year? Is it worth devoting my life to it? Where do I need to realign with my inner calling?

Daily habits can either lure you into a state of slumber or elevate you into utilizing all your talents and creativity. Setting aside time each day to practice positive habits is one of the most powerful tools in self-development.

The compound effect of daily habits has a huge impact on how your life is today. A daily routine to keep body, mind, and spirit healthy is key. An exercise routine coupled with meditation is extremely powerful.

A morning ritual sets the anchor for the day. What do I need to concentrate on doing today? What do I need to be aware of? What lower vibration, emotion, or energy from the night do I need to release. What is my positive mantra for the day?

But finding a good closure in the evening is just as important. What were my happy moments of the day? What can I truly be grateful for? What was the primary lesson that I need to record in my journal?

A more in-depth stock-taking of accomplishments, failures or even disappointments is recommended at least every quarter. A reflection with a mentor, guide, or coach can provide much clarity. A mentor is a sounding board and will help you refocus on what is truly important and help you remove the clutter that is no longer serving you.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

The biggest obstacles

There can be many obstacles coming your way that easily detract from the bigger picture and the goal-setting that you envisioned at the beginning of the year. Here are my biggest three.

Surroundings:

Are your surroundings in harmony with your calling? Is your room, apartment, or office cluttered with old things or stale energy from the past? The landscape of the house, village, town, city, or country you live in influences you in many subtle ways. The community, associations, and social conditions around you determine the vibrational field.

Associations:

Jim Rohn once said: “You‘re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Are those people you are around with having a positive, energizing influence on you, or are they pulling you down into a lower vibrational field with their negativity or narcissistic self-absorption. Who are the people that you would like in close proximity? Who are those that you need to limit contact with and those that you need to be keeping far away?

Distractions:

The pull of external distractions is probably the biggest obstacle of the three. Are social media, your mobile phone, Netflix, and all those things screaming for immediate gratification pulling you away from your mission in life, your most important objective, your dreams, your convictions, and your philosophy? Distractions can pull you into numerous directions where your thoughts are constantly dancing around in the past or the future.

Be kind to yourself

Even if you have failed to accomplish the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year and are in sadness and regret over missed opportunities or failures, it is important to remain in a loving and cherishing mindset to your inner self. Sabotaging yourself with negative self-talk can in extreme cases even pull you into a depression.

Be aware of the human condition that remains imperfect. You will have failures and disappointments. You will fall back into the trap of old habits. Life is happening all the time with its daily challenges and ups and downs. But the obstacles in the shape of people, events out of your control, unforeseen loss, and tragedy have shaped you into the person you are today and elevated you on a soul level.

You are on a journey of reconnecting to soul. You are much more than your physical body and its needs. As you walk the path of life you might deviate, and choose the wrong direction but ultimately set yourself onto the true path based on the learning experience you have had so far.

In a relaxed state of mind, in a space of solitude and contemplation, you will see things from a different perspective and be open to opportunity and growth.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | October 11, 2022 · 5:19 am

What you eat matters

How much the physiognomy of the average person in the Western world has changed in just one generation becomes starkly apparent when comparing the black-and-white newsreel images of crowd scenes in the 1950s with modern images.

The shift began in the early 1960s when a growing number of consumers started eating processed foods and drinking sodas loaded with sugar and other additives.

Today more than one in three adults in the United States suffers from obesity while globally 39 percent of adults over the age of 18 are overweight. This means a large portion of the world’s population is at higher risk of suffering from cardiac disease, diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s.

Crowd scene in the 1950s

During the immediate postwar era very few people could afford processed foods with most families cooking fresh produce. People died from diseases mostly related to poor sanitation and hygiene. Tuberculosis was prevalent. Metabolism diseases such as obesity, diabetes II, and cancer were rare. With economic prosperity came the development of the processed food industry with all its side effects.

Stress and socio-economic factors are often cited as reasons why people are more susceptible to choosing junk foods. But people who lost loved ones and experienced World War II had major stress and trauma.

Study after study is revealing a close link between mental health and diet. Ultra-processed foods make up about two-thirds of diets in school meals in the United Kingdom. Several studies suggest this could be responsible for the high number of ADHS symptoms in children. Hyperactivity, aggression, and irritability seem to go hand in hand with children eating foods with high gluten content. It is mostly found in bread, cereals, and crackers.

The bottom line is that what you choose to eat is a personal choice.

The supermarket shelves of today are packed with “foods” that contain numerous additives and sugars that not only negatively impact your health on multiple levels but are the major contributor to climate change and environmental devastation.

What you eat on daily basis matters. Much of the climate debate has over-emphasized the impact of transportation on global warming. However, the impact of agriculture on climate change is notoriously underestimated because of the overuse of topsoil, fertiliser and the emission of methane, according to several climate experts.

A team of European researchers found that methane and nitrogen oxides, mostly released by intensive livestock farming, have a significant impact on Europe’s greenhouse gas balance. They almost outweigh the positive effect that forests in particular have as carbon sinks.

Animal factories that especially produce pork, poultry, and beef are major emitters of methane gas which has an atmosphere-warming potency 80 times higher than carbon dioxide.

The atmospheric concentration of methane is increasing faster now than at any time since the 1980s. A huge amount of methane and carbon dioxide is released from the soil when natural grasslands are ploughed up to make way for the cultivation of animal feed.

We have not even begun to understand the full impact of processed foods on our health and the environment. Canadian molecular biologist Richard Béliveau estimates that one-third of all cancer is linked to poor eating habits. A diet consisting of a mix of fruits, vegetables, and drinks, such as green tea, can lead to the absorption of up to 1-2g of anticancer phytochemicals per day. “We, therefore, believe that daily consumption of these different foods is a simple and effective method to counter the development and progression of cancer,” he writes.

Beliveau also found that much of the populations in industrial societies lack essential Omega 3 fatty acids with a high percentage of Omega 6 (eating too many industrially produced carbohydrates).

Interestingly patients suffering from chronic exhaustion (Burnout) or depression all reveal extremely low levels of Omega 3.

A large portion of humanity is living a shadow of the life it could live. Minds are fed a daily dosage of toxic information while bodies are fed toxic foods that incrementally destroy the quality of life and the world around us.

Living a quality life and helping preserve a world habitable for future generations starts with awareness. What you choose to eat determines not only significantly your physical and mental health but literally the future of our planet.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | June 7, 2022 · 6:05 am

Are you living someone else’s life?

Are you living through a life of a celebrity and forgetting to live your own life? Millions of people around the globe were glued for hours each day to the live coverage of the recent court drama between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.

The business model of certain mass media is to elevate normal people like you and me to “God-like status” for the particular field they are successful at and then relish in their fall from grace with every detail of their shortcomings and failings.

The dynamics of the Depp and Amber relationship not only seems to have stirred a dark underside of their respective characters but resonated with something in the shadow of the collective consciousness.

We have the perfect Hollywood couple falling in love. It’s a paradise world where they have everything going for them – youthful beauty, fame, beautiful homes, and travelling to the most exotic places of the world in private jets. Then the curtain falls revealing a world of brutal accusations and counter accusations – a couple literally creating their own version of hell.

External success is no guarantee for happiness

What does that tell us? No matter what status, wealth and fame you have, it is no guarantee for happiness. “Both heaven and hell lie in your own mind. As heaven is your good memories and hell is your bad memories. Whether you want to enter into heaven or hell. It’s not at someone else hands. It’s your own choice,” according to Lord Robin.

Preoccupation with the lives of others is something we observe in village gossip, family drama and on the global stage. You can become so immersed with the life of another that you forget to live your own life. Celebrity worship syndrome (CWS) can become an obsessive addictive disorder. In extreme cases it results in stalking and in relatively mild cases regularly following a certain celebrity on social media.

Researchers in the United Kingdom have linked celebrity worship with higher levels of depression, anxiety and negative stress. Significant relationships were found between attitudes toward celebrities and body image among female adolescents.

We all have the same struggles, fears and anxieties

A big part of the problem is comparing one’s own unhappy and unfulfilled life with that of the celebrity who seemingly has everything that life has to offer. Such comparisons are based on illusion. On the material level certain individuals might live in completely different worlds. But on the consciousness level we are all humans with the same fears, anxieties, and emotional struggles.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

The journey of life is ultimately a journey in growth of consciousness. It is practise of presence and in becoming aware of what the Holy Oneness, the Universe, or God whispers to the soul.

You have been given the power of choice. What you feed your mind with, what programs you watch on television, what books you read and the people you choose to spend most of your time determine who you become. What daily habits you practise have a major outcome on the quality of your life. It is a life with a limited timeline that you won’t want to squander.

As a wise sage once said: “You have all the time in the world and yet you have no time to lose.”

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

One more thing...If you have found this article interesting you might want to subscribe or recommend my FREE weekly Blog to friends and family. My books can be ordered at all places that sell good books in both paperback and kindle.

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by | May 23, 2022 · 3:22 pm

The absent father and male mental health crisis

The latest mass shooting in the United States by a young male suspect in Buffalo, New York, again throws the spotlight on hate crime, and fanaticism. It is necessary to talk about how children, especially boys, grow up and what needs to be done to give them more emotional, psychological, and spiritual stability.

Criminologists Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi, found the absence of fathers to be one of the most powerful predictors of crimes. The lack of social bonds and the absence of the “father figure” as a role model for sons, providing structure, authority, and discipline are attributed as some of the key attributes lacking in violent youth.

Researchers Dr. Warren Farrell and John Gray, authors of “The Boy Crisis”, postulate that boys who grow up with an absent father or who don’t have a healthy relationship with their fathers lack a role model for healthy masculinity.

The “purpose void” and ultramasculine role models

Boys’ old senses of purpose, being a warrior, a leader, or a sole breadwinner, are fading. Many bright boys are experiencing a “purpose void”, feeling alienated, withdrawn, and addicted to immediate gratification. Compounding this issue are addicting video games that lead to distraction and ADHD, according to Farrell and Gray.

As boys become young men, their suicide rates go from equal to girls to six times that of young women! Girls seem to outperform boys at every level from education to job performance.

In some cases, these boys then seek ultramasculine role models, feeling empowered by arming themselves with weapons and joining almost exclusively male extremist groups.

These young men appear to be especially drawn to demagogic macho role models offering simple solutions to their own feelings of inadequacy and discontent. Religious minorities, immigrants, or different race groups are targeted. An idealized, orderly state of the past is recalled. A dystopian future lies waiting, ruled by a “fatherly” figurehead in a reborn patriarchy.

How do we confront this poisoning of the mind?

It has to be said that many single mothers bravely and with much personal sacrifice manage to raise healthy, successful, and caring sons. But we do need to look at why most violent crime is committed by men. In the United States, more than nine times as many men (5,037,000) as women (581,000) had ever at one time been incarcerated in a prison. Men also experienced higher victimization rates than females for all types of violent crime.

It takes a village …

The African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child”, highlights the role of family and community in shaping the life of a child. A Swahili proverb takes a similar vein:  “Whomsoever is not taught by the mother will be taught with the world.”

It has always been one of the most challenging tasks to raise a child. It is why in traditional African culture this was always seen as a communal responsibility. In our modern cultures the single mother is left without a support structure, having to deal with the double burden of raising a child and earning a living. Apart from the Nordic and some European nations little to no support is provided by the state in terms of pre-school child care and education. Governments fail to realize that the long-term social costs are much higher than providing adequate child support in the first place.

Stress resilience and mental health are built in those strong communities where children are not only bonded to the primary family but to an extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and close friends. It’s where children learn social skills and values from role models who find sense of purpose in serving something greater than short-term self-gratification.

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Individual needs versus social and community needs

Our culture has lost its way in over-emphasizing individual needs over the needs of the community and society at large. It’s part of the spiritual disconnect where pseudo-religious groups are replacing institutional religion in the form of extremist political tribes.

From the perspective of the tribal bubble, anyone who looks, believes, and dresses differently is perceived as a threat. Dehumanizing all those who are different is a hallmark of all extremist, religious, and nationalist groupings. The threshold to taking a gun and shooting those who are different becomes very thin, because empathy is felt only to members of one’s own tribe.

Where there is a spiritual connection there is an understanding of purpose. Love is experienced as unconditional and the basis of all life. God is life and God finds expression in nature.

Nobel peace prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu is quoted as saying: “Instead of separation and division, all distinctions make for a rich diversity to be celebrated for the sake of the unity that underlies them. We are different so that we can know our need of one another.”

God’s garden has never been homogeneous stagnation. It is one of beauty inhabited by diverse species, cultures, colors, religions, and beliefs in constant interaction, and interdependence with each other. We define and grow our values, heritage, and culture in a dynamic exchange between opposites. You just need to study nature in order to understand your higher calling.

Experiential spirituality is learning to understand the deeper meaning of self and how your life and purpose is inextricably intertwined with that of the larger whole. True happiness and contentment is found within, undestanding who you are, and emanating that core authenticity outwardly in kindness, love and tolerance.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | May 16, 2022 · 5:12 pm

Why are we so lazy?

While much of our attention during the past two years has focused on the pandemic when it comes to public health, there is a big elephant in the room when it comes to the global public health crisis that is stretching health budgets and affecting economic productivity in nearly every country.

Most of the common diseases such as obesity, diabetes 2, and several cancer forms are preventable and caused by lifestyle choices made on a daily basis. But why are we not addressing the obvious?

Just because a close family member has died from a terminal illness does not mean that you will at some point in your life suffer from the same condition. There is overwhelming evidence that lifestyle choices have a far greater impact on your overall health and longevity than genetics.

In the United States, the adult obesity rate for the first time in 2020 surpassed the 40 percent mark – an increase of 26 percent since 2008.

Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). About 13 percent of the world’s adult population was listed as obese in 2016, and the tragedy is that it’s affecting more and more children from an early age.

It is just not talked about, but Covid-19 was particularly lethal in persons suffering from obesity and diabetes 2. The risk factor was significantly higher, even in persons who were moderately overweight.

In Obesity Reviews, an international team of researchers pooled data from scores of peer-reviewed papers capturing 399,000 patients. They found that people with obesity who contracted SARS-CoV-2 were 113% more likely than people of healthy weight to land in the hospital, 74% more likely to be admitted to an ICU, and 48% more likely to die.

Do you want to live to see your grandchildren grow up?

Our modern-day lifestyle choices are reducing the quality of life on multiple levels and will determine whether you can still see your grandchildren growing up. The economic costs of unhealthy diets and lack of exercise are astronomical, and we are all paying for it in some way. In the United States, medical costs for diabetes alone were put at 176 billion dollars in 2012, with productivity loss estimated at 69 billion dollars.

Poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyle choices are mainly responsible for obesity and other metabolic diseases. This is increasing absenteeism at the workplace and forcing people into early retirement, mostly with much lower pensions had they been able to work to full retirement age. Expertise is lost and productivity is affected.

You simply won’t be enjoying life as much as you could be by neglecting your health. You won’t be having the energy to fulfill your purpose and your dreams.

“Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos- the trees, the clouds, everything,” according to the great Buddhist teacher Thich Nath Hanh.

The three main triggers of poor health are diet, lack of exercise, and a high-stress factor. If you eat mainly low nutrient processed foods with high sugar content you will feel fatigued and have a low motivation to exercise. This in turn affects the biochemistry in the body that influences your emotions and mental health. The bottom line: When you eat the right foods and exercise moderately you will have a higher resilience in dealing with the daily stresses of life.

How you feel affects your emotions and your emotions or thoughts determine the quality of your life.

But why do most of us not do the things that would make the quality of our lives so much better?

A study by the University of British Columbia appears to show that humans are intrinsically lazy because our brains are simply wired in such a way that we make choices on the basis of what is most comfortable.

The brain is innately attracted to sedentary behavior because “conserving energy has been essential for humans’ survival, as it allowed us to be more efficient in searching for food and shelter, competing for sexual partners, and avoiding predators,” according to Matthieu Boisgontier, a postdoctoral researcher at UBC and senior author of the study.

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The challenge, therefore, is to trick the brain away from behavior that has been programmed for generations by reframing the mindset.

You can tell yourself that the pain of suffering from a debilitating disease and poor health is greater than going out each day for a moderate walk in the woods. My body will feel and perform much better if I avoid that soda or so-called “energy drink”.

The nutrients from fresh produce and organic foods keep the biochemistry in my body at a level that makes me feel so much better – both physically and emotionally.

We need to apply more pressure on our governments to pass legislation, forcing the big food corporations to be transparent about what ingredients they put in our foods. A sugar tax could force companies to look for healthier alternatives.

However, first and foremost you have an individual responsibility not only to yourself and your destiny but also to your loved ones. They want you to be around as long as possible.

Few things in life come free of charge. What you invest in time, effort, action, and choice determine the outcome.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

P.S. You can still join our 42-day walking challenge. Walk 8,000 steps a day and keep a gratitude journal

One more thing...If you have found this article interesting you might want to read more in my books that can be ordered at all places that sell good books in both paperback and kindle.

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by | May 9, 2022 · 7:14 pm

The spark within

“Stones are mute teachers; they silence the observer, and the most valuable lesson we learn from them we cannot communicate.” Wolfgang von Goethe

One of the big illusions of our time is the constant messaging from false gurus promising salvation and a life of bliss that can only be found externally. Letting yourself be true to your inner voice and reawakening that ancient sense of rhythm and instinct is a real challenge.

The shadow world feeds on sowing confusion and triggering the toxic emotions of fear, hate, and rage that can easily be manipulated for ulterior motives. One of the greatest gifts we have is the power of choice.

Standing Guard

The lower vibrational field remains unaware, stuck in a fundamentalist worldview that leaves no room for nuance, diversity, individual growth, and interpretation. It finds expression in fanatical nationalism that inevitably dehumanizes everyone who is not of the same tribe and belief.

We have seen the phenomenon throughout history in the pogroms against Jews, Huguenots, Armenians, and the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. Mass psychosis gripped an entire population in Germany during the Nazi era. Currently, we are experiencing a dangerous resurgence of 19th-century nationalism in several countries.

Taming the wolf within is one of the greatest stories of St. Francis of Assisi. Feeding the wolf with peace, kindness, and love is moving into the higher vibrational field.

The great 14-century Mystic Meister Eckart said: “If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”  Like Eckhart, most of the early medieval Mystics saw God in all creation, only to find themselves being persecuted and tried for heresy by the religious leaders bent on imposing an external belief based on fear and control.

Nature and landscape thrive in solitude

Self-estrangement could only be overcome by going into solitude and inner silence. God, he taught, could only be discovered in the total presence of the here-and-now. It is why the green and blue spaces of nature have such healing powers. Nature and landscape thrive on silence. Modern man is literally terrified of silence because of his disconnect from nature and soul. He has to constantly surround himself with the drumbeat of electronics to banish natural silence.

Meister Eckhart defined the spark within as authentic soul nature, the core essence of one’s being. The story of Jesus casting out the merchants and traders from the Temple of Jerusalem with the words: “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves,” is a parable to stand guard at the doorway of one’s soul. Eckart defines the inner Temple as a divine space.

Training the mind and the intellect to be discerning is the antidote during a time when the truth is veiled by a public narrative intent on fueling the negative.

When humanity is entering the season of winter it is also an opportunity for reflection and realignment. It is an opportunity to strengthen your inner resolve and resilience. I’m inviting you to join our 42-Day Walking Challenge starting tomorrow. Register today for the Challenge in our Mastermind Group.

Starting on 11th May we will be walking at least 8,000 steps per day, practicing a daily gratitude journal, and choosing a personal challenge. It is a great opportunity to reframe and reset!

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

One more thing...If you have found this article interesting you might want to read more in my books that can be ordered at all places that sell good books in both paperback and kindle.

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