Tag Archives: mental-health

by | February 28, 2023 · 5:06 pm

Finding purpose with deep walking

Living a modern sedentary lifestyle glued to a screen rebels against our very human nature that is designed from the dawn of mankind to walk. Homo Sapiens has populated the planet walking, which is today one of the most underrated, yet most effective ways of keeping body, mind, and soul healthy.

A body of research has meanwhile confirmed the many positive effects only a moderate amount of walking per day can positively impact your health.

The Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, which has been tracking the health behaviors of more than 200,000 women for more than three decades, has revealed that walking for an average of 30 minutes a day can lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes by 30 to 40 percent.

Walking at this rate can also lower the risk of breast cancer by 20 to 30 percent.

A 2018 study by UCLA researchers has found that a sedentary lifestyle is also bad for mental health.

The researchers did brain scans of 35 people aged 45 to 75, finding that those who sat the most had more thinning in an area of the brain involved with memory, a change that may be linked to cognitive decline and dementia.

Living a sedentary lifestyle surrounded by things created by the “head mind” will never make you feel the same sense of aliveness and awareness that you will feel through the intuitive “heart-mind” when walking in nature. The universe, or God, finds expression through nature.

In my latest “Living to BE” podcast I discussed with my pilgrim friend Kevin Considine the many life lessons deep pilgrimage walking has to offer. Kevin has walked more than 14,000 kilometers on ancient pilgrimage paths since he retired eight years ago.

Scientists have found that exposure to blue spaces such as lakes, rivers, and the sea are particularly beneficial to mental health.

A team from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) undertook the first international review of 35 studies on “blue spaces.” They concluded that outdoor blue spaces not only reduce stress levels, but also improve general well-being.

Crossing the Pyrenees mountains from France to Spain on one of my pilgrimage walks

The difference between a hike and a deep-walking pilgrimage experience

One of the most popular paths is the Camino de Santiago in northwestern Spain, which has been traversed by pilgrims for centuries. In recent years, it has been rediscovered by tens of thousands of people from all walks of life as a path of healing and self-discovery.

Some of the world’s most creative and talented artists, including Johann Sebastian Bach, William Blake, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau explored their inner worlds on long walks, acutely aware of the positive effects in opening the senses to nature.

The conservationist John Muir, tormented by nightmares and anxiety after nearly going blind in a work accident, immersed himself in nature on a 1,000-mile journey on foot from the banks of the Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico.

On my first pilgrimage walk to Santiago, I too was tormented by a dysfunctional relationship, a stressed-out job and childhood trauma that I had suppressed for many years. Any amount of therapy did not have the same effect as facing those inner demons on long, lonely walks of solitude in nature. I have described in detail my journey in my two books: Walking on Edge and Deep Walking for Body, Mind and Soul.

Experiential spirituality at its best

The universe speaks to us in many ways but nowhere more than with such clarity when body, mind, and soul are completely immersed in nature and not distracted by the pull of countless things in our daily, modern lives. It is experiential spirituality at its best.

A particular fascination with the Camino de Santiago in northwestern Spain is that these ancient pilgrimage paths have been walked by pilgrims for many centuries. It is marked by numerous crosses and symbols left by the pilgrims of old, many of whom did not survive the long trip. I would concur with my pilgrim friend Kevin that the route is filled with the spirits of pilgrims who have gone before, who guide us on the way.

Many a person has started the more than 800-kilometer walk from Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago de Compostela as a hiking or sporting endeavor but ended the walk as a pilgrim. It is a part of the Camino mystery. It has a different impact on every individual, awakening channels to the soul that you had never dreamed possible.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | February 6, 2023 · 9:29 pm

The virus of victim culture

How would you feel when after your passing you were shown by an angel the life you could have lived but didn’t live because you were too afraid to take action or spent a life in misery by blaming everyone else, especially your elementary family for what went wrong in your life?

To some degree, it’s everyone’s story. Families and relationships are strained by divorce, emotional abuse, financial issues or poor physical and mental health. But the external world, especially social media, indoctrinates us with the message that we are always supposed to be happy. Life is never like that. The seasons of nature teach us that we go through cycles of spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Our grievance culture thrives on negativity which has become like a virus infecting individuals and millions of people in entire nations. A person infected with grievance culture is incapable of self-reflection and taking responsibility. He would rather wallow in feeling sorry for himself for what all the others did to him in creating the situation he finds himself in. By blaming others he has a perfect excuse for not taking action to change the status quo.

Victim culture can poison entire nations

On a macro-level, it is a hallmark of fascist and extremist movements led by demagogues who have the ability to channel the toxic emotions of hate, anxiety, and fear into blaming ethnic minorities, other religions, political parties or genders for everything that has gone wrong in society. The fascists of Nazi Germany found fertile ground in stirring the flames of existing 19th-century Prussian militarism, hurt national pride, and prejudice toward the Jewish minority.

Comparisons with the current situation in Russia are striking. The Russian leadership is effectively using hurt national pride after the collapse of the Soviet Union to justify the invasion of another country. The messaging from state Russian media is that NATO was responsible for starting the war and that the atrocities committed by Russian troops are fake news.

A democratic modern Germany and the European Union could only be built after total defeat of Adolf Hitler and the realization that nationalism can never be a solution. In the same way dramatic changes in Russia will possibly only came after total collapse of the current authoritarian economic and political order.

Grievance culture is an addiction to a mindset. The individual is in total denial that there is a problem. The healing process is then only possible during an epiphany that comes with a flat-on-the-ground moment. The frustration level, disgust, and pain threshold has reached such a level that the first steps toward changing the situation are taken.

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Life is cyclical: Winter is a time for reflection and opportunity

The winter cycles of life when we are in pain, grief and suffering offer also the greatest opportunity to an elevation of consciousness and change. Conflicts in relationships, in a job, or in a family are signposts pinpointing that changes need to be made, and that the status quo is no longer working. You are given an opportunity by the universe to dig deep into your inner resources, your inner truth, and your soul purpose. The winter cycles of life are a time for withdrawal and self-reflection where the ideas, and opportunities for the next cycle, spring, are born.

Some of the most successful start-ups have been founded during an economic downturn or recession. Several of the world’s most outstanding business and political leaders transmuted the winter years of their lives into activism, leadership, and creativity. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison, never losing sight of the long-term goal to become president of a non-racial democratic South Africa.

Martin Luther King wrote about his own suffering:

“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways that I could respond to my situation: either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course. Recognizing the necessity for suffering I have tried to make of it a virtue. If only to save myself from bitterness, I have attempted to see my personal ordeals as an opportunity to transform myself and heal the people involved in the tragic situation which now obtains. I have lived these last few years with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive.”

Success for these outstanding personalities came after many trials and tribulations where any normal person would have succumbed to bitterness and blame. We see often only the end result of their accomplishment and not the rough path, the inner work, discipline, and dedication they built to get there.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | January 24, 2023 · 9:04 am

Things don’t fall apart suddenly

A leak in the roof of a house will drip by drip gradually weaken the structural walls until the foundations give way and the house collapses. When small repairs are not carried out they become big problems. A health crisis is preceded by many small aches and pains. A relationship breakdown will have a long history of hurts, insults, and betrayals. A company’s bankruptcy comes after years of poor management and missed opportunities.

The seeds of the failed nation are sown with the gradual growth of the tentacles of corruption, poor government, and nepotism. Countries such as Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Argentina, and my home country South Africa once had booming economies but are today sad reminders of how fast the rot can set in.

In the 1990s the South African city centers of Johannesburg, Durban, and Pretoria were bustling with excellent restaurants, jazz clubs, theatres, and parks. Visitors from many countries could move around fairly safely. Today these same areas are a sad conglomerate of dilapidated buildings with broken windows and ransacked and gutted interiors. The pot-holed streets are littered with trash and any tourist walking through these areas would be risking their life. It did not come overnight. The rot was gradual after years of mismanagement and corruption by the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

When Vladimir Putin took over from Russian president Boris Yeltsin in the year 1999, several critics warned that the former KGB agent was a dangerous threat to democracy. Western leaders simply failed to see the early warning signs that presaged Russia’s ever-greater slide into authoritarianism as journalists, opposition politicians, and businessmen were poisoned, shot, or imprisoned. Turning a blind eye eventually led to the invasion of the sovereign country Ukraine.

A successful company begins to decline when market signals are ignored and customers are taken for granted or their complaints are ignored. How many successful brand names of the past are today no more. Some iconic brand names that have disappeared are Pan Am, once the world’s largest air carrier, Polaroid, the pioneer of Instamatic cameras, the bookstore Borders which failed to make the transition to a new business or digital business model and many automobile brands such as Pontiac, Saab, Oldsmobile, and Borgward.

The boiling frog syndrome

The phenomenon of the boiling frog syndrome is that the water in the pot is gradually heated so that the frog hardly notices the gradual rise in temperature until it’s too late. Does that not tell us something about the climate debate? Scientists have warned since the late 1980s that we would be seeing extreme weather patterns as the result of the warming of the earth’s atmosphere because of the excessive burning of fossil fuels by the middle of this century. They were off the mark by at least two decades. Nobody could have predicted the ferocity of summer temperatures and storms that we are seeing in many countries at this moment in time.

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Tunnel vision

A hallmark of an entitlement culture is the tunnel vision of the ego mind. When in tunnel vision there is no evolution or progress of mind and spirit. The head-mind or “ego-mind” is caught in a belief. Its mind is made up of what is right and wrong in the world.

Head-Mind is incapable of listening to the alternative argument and will interrupt you before you have finished your sentence. They will tell you that 1+1 = 4. Nothing will persuade them otherwise. Their lives have been taken over by an alternate reality and they will be reaffirming their belief daily with similar believers in social media bubbles. Once entrenched in a tunnel-vision bubble it is virtually impossible to break down the walls the person has surrounded himself with. The person is addicted to a certain belief or thought.

When the human is in puberty you will be warning him with greater urgency of the train ahead. He will nevertheless deny that there is a train coming until it’s too late. It’s what parents all too often painfully have to go through. The child in puberty has to make its own experience, learn its own lessons and draw its own conclusions from the pain it suffers.

An alcoholic will very often only seek help during an epiphany that comes in a “flat on the ground” moment. The person is so disgusted and pained about his own behavior that he will admit finally that he has a problem. It is the first step in the healing process.

Negative and destructive behavior has the habit of sneaking into life in many subtle ways. It is one of the reasons why so many New Year resolutions fail. Typical sabotaging self-talk could be: “It won’t make much of a difference if I skip my workout this morning.” “I need to reward myself with a shopping spree after saving for two months.” “It won’t affect my relationship if I cheat on my partner just this once.”

Creating a life of bliss with positive habits

Transmuting pain and suffering leads to higher consciousness and positive change. Meaning and purpose is found after years of depression. A fulfilling, loving relationship is found after enduring years of abuse in a dysfunctional marriage. A different and more fulfilling work is sought after job burnout. An exercise routine and a healthy diet are followed with passion after overcoming a life-threatening disease.

The underlying reason for procrastination and indecision is often the fear that a change might be worse than the status quo. Starting with small “baby steps” in taking the first doable actions can make all the difference. You don’t have to wait and experience pain. You will know by now in what areas of life you need to make a change.

What can you do today? What can be done that will start the ball rolling? If you enter an untidy room filled with junk, you start by clearing one small area, then the following day the next, and so on. Getting physically fit could start with a walk of 2,000 steps and then gradually increase it day by day to 10,000 steps. Reducing a stressed out and fearful mind can begin with a short meditation lasting three minutes until 15-20 minutes is done with ease because you feel so much better afterward. Training body, mind, and spirit to a new level of consciousness and bliss comes after a reawakening from the shadowlands.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | January 17, 2023 · 8:20 am

You are not your beliefs and thoughts

Change your thoughts and you will change your life

The average human being typically has more than 6,000 thoughts per day. The figure was pinpointed by a team of psychology experts at Queen’s University in Canada, who say they have developed a never-before-seen way to detect when one thought ends and another begins.

Other researchers estimate that we process between 60,000 and 70,000 thoughts per day. In 2005, the National Science Foundation published an article saying of those thousands of thoughts, 80 percent were negative, and 95 percent were exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before.

What you think you become

It, therefore, makes perfect sense to practice thought control. It can change your life. What you think you will become. It is the self-image with which you program yourself. Attachment to thoughts and beliefs imprison the mind. It is what the Buddhists describe as one of the major causes of suffering.

Our culture has been poisoned by narcissism and ego-centered thought. The predominant messaging is on external appearance, image, and possession. This inevitably leads to a disconnect with inner authenticity, spiritual purpose, and BEING. The more pronounced this disconnect the greater the addiction to all that offers short-term gratification.

We are seeing an explosion of substance abuse in those cultures worshipping the false gods of materialism. At the same time, we are seeing a dangerous tendency of fanatical addiction to fixed thoughts and beliefs that are threatening the foundations of democracy and free thought.

The loss of identity

The Ego-Mind confuses identity with thought and belief. It is a house built on a sandy foundation because a disconnect from the true self makes the person susceptible to holding onto a fixed belief or ideology. Identity is defined by the “others” who are wrong. An opposing idea thought or belief that threatens this false self-identity is perceived as a threat to all who we think we are. What is left of identity when we realize that the cultural icons that we have worshipped are emperors wearing no clothes? What is left of the ego when all the facts on the ground show us that we have been wrong all along?

The personality imprisoned by the Ego-Mind inevitably becomes physically and psychologically ever more rigid and inflexible to the point where it will not even hesitate to kill if it feels its identity crumbling away. It would rather die than admit that it was mistaken all along. The Ego-Mind has no inner substance, it knows no laughter, joy, or love.

All creativity that is dominated by the right side of the brain is stifled. But it is what makes us essentially human when we show a willingness to go with the flow of creativity in learning new things and developing our skill set. Soul authenticity is connected to the heart-mind. It serves a much greater wholeness than the self, the tribe, or the nation. The soul knows no attachment. It knows only unconditional love, joy, and laughter.

Connecting to the Heart-Mind

We will only survive as a species if we reconnect with this greater wholeness when we begin to realize that truth and belief happens in tolerance and interaction. We need to let go of the attachment to the opinionated head, the closed heart, and the defensive walls of what we believe to be identity.

Religious and political fanaticism is rooted in fear. Emotional stress and fear always begins with a thought. Fear and hate are never a reflection of truth. It comes from the lowest vibrational energy. When you take action in doing what you really love you begin to move beyond the fear.

There comes a point where you have to unlearn all the conditioning to become whole again by surrendering to trust. Experiential spirituality is essentially the practice of emptying the mind of all attachment and at the same time connecting to the inner room of the soul. It is surrendering to the magic of the moment and opening to the whispers of the universe.

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | January 10, 2023 · 12:41 pm

The power of self-love

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”

Richard P. Feynman

The need for self-love as the precondition to giving love is a key to many spiritual teachings. At the heart of much self-destructive behavior, and the addiction problems we see in the world today are the rejection and contempt of self.

You cannot love and accept yourself without unconditionally accepting the shadows within. You have to learn to accept that you are an incomplete human being.


The hypocrisy that often underlies institutionalized religion stems from the notion that those who don’t believe and behave the same way that we do are in some way inferior and lesser human beings. When you are in denial of your own inadequacies and weaknesses you will see them more pronounced in others.

The beginning of forgiveness


The beginning of forgiveness begins with the forgiving of self. The seeds of inadequacy and lack of self-esteem are planted early in life by social norms or misguided parental pressure.


Failure and missteps are part of the human condition. As the sages and Mystics teach us: They are the stepping stones to self-awareness and self-love. By learning to forgive yourself you can accept and learn to forgive others.

The scriptures teach us that “If you forgive others their sins, they are indeed forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness from one another, they are held bound.” (John 20:23).

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The more addicted we become to a preferred self-image the more judgemental we become. But it is precisely the relationship difficulties, conflict situations, failures, and disappointments of life that mirror the shadow aspects within. These are the aspects in need of acceptance or transformation that help elevate you to a higher vibrational energy, your inner power, and strength.

Surrendering to life


Surrendering to life is complete surrender to that which is greater than any image of self and the essence of what is the vulnerability of body, mind, and soul. It is what Paula D’Arcy describes as “God comes to us disguised as our life.”


As the spiritual teacher, priest, and author Richard Rohr explains: “Surrender is not giving up, as we tend to think, nearly as much as it is a giving to the moment, the event, the person, and the situation.”

Life happens. You cannot change what has happened in the past. Taking a different perspective can transmute feelings of pain and guilt. A personal mantra of forgiveness could be:

“I release at this moment the attachment to the pain and the melancholy sadness to that which was and is no more. I love and accept myself the way I am. I love and accept my true soul nature. I am in loving care and kindness to myself and others.“

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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by | January 3, 2023 · 12:32 pm

Raising your vibrational energy for 2023

Starting another New Year you have all the possibility of rewriting your future by raising your vibrational energy to the level that attracts the circumstances, people, and opportunities to make this your best year yet.

It is a time to release attachments and addictions to associations, habits, thoughts, beliefs, and the negative self-talk that limits your power and keeps you at the level of the eagle that is scratching with the chickens, unaware that it can in reality soar high in the sky.

The Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl theorized that the absence of meaning and purpose in life inevitably leads to the pursuit of distracting “pleasures” and addictions. Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, describes in his famous book “Man’s Search for Meaning”, the deep yearning of every individual to live a life of purpose and meaning whatever the external circumstances.

There is a deep yearning within every human being to be seen, recognized, and appreciated for who they are with their unique individual capabilities, strengths, and vulnerabilities.

Relationships

It is why relationships, the people you surround yourself with on a daily basis, are such an important key to happiness. There would be only a select group of very few people you would be willing to spend alone with on an island. The people you spend the most time with influence you in multiple and many subtle ways. You inevitably adopt the views, mannerisms, and beliefs of the people closest to you. Surround yourself with people who emanate positivity, joy, and kind-heartedness and you will become like them.

Health should be a top priority

If you are eating low-nutrient processed foods, and not getting enough sleep and exercise you will never raise your energy frequency. It’s a downward spiral that inevitably ends in poor mental and physical health. We are not only social beings but our metabolism is simply not built for a sedentary lifestyle. The best way of staying physically active is to find a set time – at best early in the morning – for a regular exercise routine. Start with just a 15-20 minute exercise sequence a day and then gradually build on it. Trying to do too much at once most often fails. Choose an exercise that you enjoy doing. For me, the most enjoyable part of the day is taking my dog for a walk in nature. Getting enough daylight sun on your body is very important because the body produces Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Vitamin D helps boost the immune system, improves sleep, and maintains a strong bone structure.

Attachments

Attachment to that which was and is no more can be like a huge dragnet pulling you away from seeing the opportunities, joys, and magic of the present moment. Thoughts dwelling on the past are mostly blurred by emotion and very seldom reflect the true events. The “monkey mind” constantly dances between the past and the future. The worrying mind will paint the worst possible scenario of all that could happen. The result: frozen paralysis.

Breathing into the present moment

By consciously focusing the mind on your breathing rhythm you will be instantly pulling yourself back to the present moment. Breathing meditations release tension and tightness in the body. Deep breathing through the nose releases nitric oxide which widens the blood vessels allowing for better transportation of oxygen to vital organs.

What information are you feeding your mind with?

The business model of most mass media is based on fanning the flames of negative emotion. Outlandish conspiracy theories hate tweets and irrelevant gossip are shared millions of times. Negative emotions however are a threat to your long-term health. Anger, resentment, fear, and anxiety keep you at the lowest possible vibrational frequency. It is that frequency that you are most easily manipulated because you are disconnected from your true self. Karl Marx described in 1843 in a celebrated dictum “religion is the opium of the people.” The place of old-school institutional religion has undoubtedly today been taken by the 24-7 drumbeat of mass media, influencing and manipulating the minds of hundreds of millions of people in an alternate reality. Information and knowledge cannot be compared to wisdom.

Gaining more wisdom

We are drowning in information and starving in wisdom. Some ways of gaining more wisdom:

  • Surround yourself with wise, intelligent people who offer a different perspective to the one you might have.
  • Read regularly and read books that have an impact on your life
  • Listen more and ask more questions, rather than talking

Wisdom has depth and nuance far removed from transitory mainstream superficiality. It can be developed and strengthened and is not limited to the wise and old. As Albert Einstein once said: “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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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 20, 2022 · 10:09 am

The twin threats to humanity

It’s the time of year to reflect on the major events of the past twelve months and how they will possibly affect humanity’s very survival. While the media narrative is focused on mostly external threats we are losing sight of mental well-being that will equally determine our capacity of dealing with the major challenges ahead.

The sages of old and the great Mystics teach us that God expresses himself in and through nature in experiential spirituality. God can only be experienced. He cannot be believed. Religious doctrine mainly tells us what to believe and how to behave but possibly it’s biggest sin has been in elevating man as a separate entity from a nature that had to be subdued and conquered.

The spiritual disconnect

It has inevitably led to a spiritual disconnect of modern man who sees the hill as a mineral resource, the indiginous plant and tree as a threat to monocultured agriculture, the animal as expendible if it cannot be put to domestic use and the rivers and seas as a resource for harvesting fish.

Within our lifetime we are therefore seeing the largest extinction of species since the Mesozoic era (252-266 million years ago with the multiple effects of climate crisis, desertification, deforestation, burning of fossil fuels, factory and monoculture farming all playing their part in this mass extinction.

We are just beginning to see the first signs of climate impact on food chain supplies, and what it could ultimately mean for the survival of future generations. Coffee, a must-have drink in most western countries, could soon become a luxurious rarity. Already many coffee bean producers are having trouble with harvests because of extreme drought and rain periods caused by climate change. Some of the world’s major staple food regions will in less than one generation be unable to produce food for ten billion hungry people if water shortage and desertification continues at the current pace.

Dr Florian Schierhorn, research associate at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies, cites latest research showing maize yields in the world’s major breadbaskets under increasing pressure worldwide as a result of climate change. 

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We are an integral part of nature

It is part of modern man’s delusion that he sees himself as external to nature, failing to realize that he/she is an integral part of creation and that the way he lives, impacts and shapes the world. The bottom line: If we don’t change the way we live, think and what we believe, we as a civilization will not survive the next century.

But all hope is not yet lost. A crisis is always a wake-up call that something needs to change. In 1987 the world signed the landmark Montreal Protocol phasing out the production of ozone depleting substances. A report in nature magazine reveals that if nothing had been done, many of the world’s plants would have disappeared by today, destroyed by harmful UV rays piercing through the earth’s protective ozone layer.

So, if humanity could do what it did it 1987, why has it so far lost at least 15 years in seriously addressing climate change? The reason is that a large portion of educated, well-meaning and decent people are being brainwashed by grievance culture that thrives on rage, negativity, and hate. We are finding ourselves in an era where values and common norms of decent behaviour and kindness have fallen by the wayside. The basic tenets of science are being questioned with the environmental and climate protection movements becoming part of the culture wars.

The big brainwash of grievance culture

Negative news sells and generates advertising revenue. The tabloids, and the Twitter feeds are constantly feeding the minds of millions of people around the world with “junk” and false information. If we feed our bodies with junk food we will become ill and it is the same way with feeding the mind. A mind constantly in anger, fear, greed and anxiety will eventually also impact the physical body.

If your mind has been hijacked by toxic emotions, you are unable to reflect and think rationally. If you are fearful your instinctual or reptilian survival mode part of the brain will have been triggered into fear and flight mode. You will believe the strangest of conspiracy theories spun by the tabloids. One of the recent ones: Meghan Markle a sleeper agent of the U.S. government while another that Harry and Meghan were secret British agents wanting to recolonise America?!

Depression and anxiety has become endemic

It might be funny but there are people who actually believe what they read and want to believe. Depression and unhappiness has become endemic in our culture. It is human nature to compare with others. Millions of people feel deeply unhappy, a failure and inadequate if they cannot conform to the physical and material attributes of the rich and famous. Could this be one of the reasons why we are seeing so many suicides among teenagers who spend much of their time on social media and following the lives of “influencers”?

The mental health of the collective unconscious mind is under siege. More than ever before we need to teach ourselves and our loved ones on the importance of standing guard at the doorway to the soul. What serves me in a higher sense to become a happier, kinder and better human being? What interactions and conversations with my fellow human beings serve me and others and what do I need to stay away from?

Soul connection forms the essence of BEING. If you are connected to the essence of your BEING and you begin to realize that you are a unique individual, with unique talents and a unique purpose in life, you will begin to live a happier and far more fulfilling life.

The journey of life is a pilgrimage. When you have climbed a hill you realize that you are not yet at the end of your journey. There is another hill to climb, another valley to traverse. Another lesson to learn. Every crisis and a wrong turn in the road can also be an opportunity to turn back, to press the reset button and to start afresh.

Take a walk in nature to clear the mind and to realign body, mind and soul. Take a moment to reconnect with your breathing rhythm and connect that inhaling and exhaling sequence with the breath of life all around you. What do you smell, hear and see. Do you notice the harmonious cadence of the bird song, the fine texture of a leaf, the beauty of a flower growing from the crevice of a rock?

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” – Henry David Thoreau –

Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker

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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 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

One more thing...If you have found this article interesting you might want to subscribe with the “follow” button above 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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