Tag Archives: spirituality

by | October 24, 2018 · 7:29 am

Who are you?

Emotional and physical exhaustion is one of the scourges of the modern era. Depression is reaching almost epidemic proportions. You could very well say that the Western mind has lost its soul that has been entrapped by the temptations of immediate gratification.

We are bombarded constantly with subliminal messages that tell you: Buy this and you will be happy. Do this and you will get rich. Do this to live like a super star. Dress like this and act like that to be loved and validated by the crowd.

Along the way one of our most valuable assets – the time to be fully aware of the  moment – is getting lost. The mind is constantly occupied with either the past or the fears of the future.  In the process you forget soul purpose and who you are!

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I have found that walking alone in nature is a magnificent way of detoxing and training the mind by re-calibrating the senses to the world around us.  I truly believe that nature is a manifestation of God. The whisper of creation can be sensed by a bird song, the rustling of leaves in an ancient tree, or the clouds enveloping a mountain top.

Most people in today’s world however are forced to live in crowded cities that are dehumanizing in their detachment from nature. They cloud the senses with a high level of noise, pollution and bombardment of the senses. The modern human being has become so detached from his natural environment, that its causing havoc to emotional stability.

I think this is one of the reasons for the great attraction of the ancient pilgrimage route in Spain.  More and more people are becoming spiritually conscious and seeking answers. Spending weeks alone by simply walking in nature without distraction is like a detox in peeling away the layers to the heart of the true self. But it doesn’t only have to be walking.  New retreats and centers of meditation are opening everywhere as human consciousness is rising to a new level.

Old school religion has taught us to believe and to follow a certain doctrine and behavior. The new consciousness is very much an experiental spirituality in a “becoming” of the real self.

Reino Gevers – Author, Mentor and Consultant 

https://www.reinogevers.com

     

 

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by | October 3, 2018 · 10:32 am

Reconnecting with ancestral roots

Our ancestors from centuries ago might be influencing our lives in more ways than we might be aware of.

Cultures steeped in tradition and ritual, place great value on their history and ancestral roots. Much of this has been lost in the modern materialist world−which then finds an unhealthy avenue in extreme nationalism.

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There is a long tradition on the Camino in Spain that reminded me a lot of the Zulu culture in South Africa.

The Zulu greeting “sawbona” means “I see you” to which the fellow being greeted responds with “yebo”, or yes and I see you too.

In the rural Zululand of my childhood the conversation would then continue with strangers exchanging their names and asking each other the names of their parents and grandparents and from what village they came from so that the ancestral tree to the tribe or clan could be recognized.

The Zulus journeyed mostly on foot, and would pile stone cairns at key junctions as a mark of respect to the ancestors and asking them for a safe journey. In the Umfolozi Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal there is a massive stone cairn that dates back to the stone ages.

I was surprised to find this tradition also on the Camino and learned that similar rituals also exist in other cultures such as the Inuit, American Indians and Celts from which the practice probably came in Spain.

In medieval times it was common for one member of a family to walk the Camino to atone for the sins of the entire clan. The family would in return collect funds to finance the pilgrimage.

The pilgrimage began after crossing the threshold of his front door, and after being granted permission to leave by his local religious authorities. Before leaving he had attended mass where his staff and scrip were blessed by the priest.

It would be months, sometimes more than a year before he returned−if he was lucky. Many pilgrims did not survive the journey, making the ultimate sacrifice.

Along the Camino, the pilgrim would add a rock to the cairns at the wayside, saying a prayer for a member of the family going down the line of the family tree, starting with the parents, siblings, grandparents, great-grandparents, and all the other members of the clan.

Today the tradition continues and many of the cairns have rocks with prayer inscriptions for a deceased loved one, someone going through a serious illness or a special wish.

Genetic research is still a young science but some scientists believe that some of our habits, traumas, memories and survival instincts are imprinted in our genes from our ancestors. An ancestor born centuries ago could still be impacting your life. Ancestral memories could be passed on for 14 generations, according to one body of research.

We are who we are not only because of the influences from our immediate friends and the environment in which we live but it also appears, that some of our habits, fears and talents are inherited from our ancestors.

Reino Gevers – Author, Mentor and Consultant 

https://www.reinogevers.com

     

 

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by | September 12, 2018 · 8:40 am

Gratitude

There is a saying that if you aren’t grateful for the things you have now, you will never be grateful for the things you are wishing for.

Being grateful for what you already have is a key aspect of happiness.

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It is not about mumbling off five daily gratitudes like a “must-do-happiness-ritual” but really feeling into that which you are truly grateful for.

“I’m so grateful that I have been given this opportunity, that I’m healthy, and that I have been given the time and the financial means.”

You feel that gratitude energy flow like a wave through every cell of your body in one big exhaling breath, while you move your lips into a gentle smile.

The advanced spiritual teachers even give thanks for the unfortunate events that come into their lives, because they view this is an opportunity for the soul to grow.

Most prayer emphasizes the wanting of something: better health, finding a job, a marriage partner, getting out of debt, having more money, or a new home.

It often comes out of a feeling of privation and deficiency.

Expressing in a prayer gratitude comes with an entirely different mindset of abundance, empowerment, and the wisdom that all is grace and interwoven within the bigger matrix of higher meaning.

Gratitude comes from within and it is entirely different from the consumer-orientated mindset, that is insatiable and never satisfied.

Being grateful puts things into perspective, and gives true meaning to being grateful for every day where we are healthy, breathing and alive.

I met several people on my Camino walks who really put my own difficulties, rather than problems into perspective and gave me a new sense of meaning when they told me of their own battles.

On my first Camino, I met a cheerful, lanky guy from Scotland in his early 60s. Only later did I find out that he had walked all the way through England, France and Spain. It was his way of dealing with the grief of losing his beloved wife of many years to cancer.

There are always things to be grateful for, especially those things we just take for granted. Nothing is permanent.

Reino Gevers – Author, Mentor and Consultant 

https://www.reinogevers.com

     

 

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by | September 4, 2018 · 8:45 am

Go Slow To Go Far

One of the  many lessons learned walking the Camino in Spain is that you have to go slow to get far.  I must admit that I too get infected at times by the “bug” that bites many hikers on the Camino: Getting up in the early hours of the morning and racing ahead to the next town to avoid the hassle of finding no accommodation.

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In some of the remote towns albergues or hostels for pilgrims are rare. But on all my ten walks on the Camino, I have always found a place to stay for the night. The Spanish people are incredibly hospitable and friendly toward pilgrims walking the Camino. If worse comes to worse a sports hall or school classrooms is opened with mattresses on the floor. Villagers in the towns have even been seen offering their private bedrooms to tired pilgrims.

But the Camino is in many ways an analogy of life and you inevitably take yourself with you on a journey.  Many pilgrims take a time out from their stressed-out lives at home, and have difficulty switching to a calm, slowed-down rhythm.

And, under stress or in a hurry, you make mistakes. You go into tunnel vision and start missing way markers, making your walk that much longer than planned. You miss out seeing many of the small miracles or the messages sent by the universe on your way. You fail to pace your energy, ending up with blisters on your feet, hurt knees and back problems.

Sometimes a small talk with a villager or a word from a fellow pilgrim along the way can be an immense eye opener and blessing. I have walked several of the Camino routes more than twice and have been amazed at how much I didn’t see the first time around, and how different each Camino walk was.

Staying in the moment is one of the most difficult exercises in the hurried life of the Western mind which is preoccupied with all the fears of tomorrow and the events of the past. Will I have to sleep under the bridge? Will I be safe?  I have seen pilgrims literally fall into panic upon hearing that there was no accommodation left in the town. It is an innate fear to be in a foreign place and having no place to stay.  Others stay completely calm, trusting in the universe that a solution will always be found, laughing it off as part of the Camino experience.

I have taken this Camino experience to heart. A day can be ruined by a stressed-out, hurried mindset where one little catastrophe follows the next.  Or, you can just take one step back, concentrating on the breathing, deliberately slowing your walk by a pace or two, and then just taking it as it comes.

Reino Gevers – Author, Mentor and Consultant 

https://www.reinogevers.com

     

 

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by | August 7, 2018 · 6:15 am

Embrace Your Self

When I watch an animal, like my dog Klara, I cannot but help think that we humans are just about the most disconnected species around.

Animals are totally connected to their immediate environment, sniffing, smelling and using all their senses to imbibe the immediate moment with no past or future.

I mentioned in a previous blog that it seems that much of the Western mind seems to have lost its soul in the mad rush for immediate gratification, and the addiction to external approval  in its many variations.

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Photo by William Farlow

It has become very difficult to discern who we really are on a soul-purpose level when we are bombarded by countless distractions from the moment we get up in the morning, and take that stretch toward the smart phone.  Most of these forces want to make us believe in self-images, or “false Gods”, with a manipulative purpose. Many of the rich and famous “role models” on glitzy magazine covers show exceedingly dysfunctional behavior. Some are obviously very unhappy people.

A growing number of neuroscientists even believe that we are a species with no free will, and can be manipulated in any direction if the communicator knows how to play the reptilian part of the brain – the oldest part of the brain – with strong emotions such as anger and fear.

The historian and author of  the book “Sapiens – A brief history of humankind”, Yuval Noah Harari, said recently that he is most concerned that “we are close to the point when an external system can understand your feelings better than you. We’ve already seen a glimpse of it in the last epidemic of fake news.”

Knowing and embracing your true self can thus become a matter of survival. If we don’t live our true self, we can become very unhappy, and fall ill because the body is always reflecting what is happening in the mind.

Finding and embracing yourself is pretty easy by taking time out for introspection. This can be anything from time for prayer, meditation, pilgrimage walks, body-mind retreats and other methods that bring us back into alignment with the higher or true self. We need to learn again who we really are.

Liberating yourself from the powers of distraction, that alienate you from your true self, is the real challenge of our time. 

Each one of us alive today has a spark of the divine, has desire and purpose, unique abilities and something precious to give back.

Reino Gevers – Author, Mentor and Consultant 

https://www.reinogevers.com

     

 

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by | July 24, 2018 · 8:25 am

Truth recognizes Truth

We all fall for the same trap. You are conversing with someone when you realize that you might as well be talking to a wall. The other person and you are locked in separate belief systems. Communication is impossible when one person believes he is talking about a teapot while the other person tells you it’s a spoon.

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Photo by Kawtar CHERKAOUI 

Much of this phenomenon is currently visible in today’s polarized political world. We are incapable and unwilling to listen to each other.  You make up your mind that the moon landing was a fake and a Google search will inevitably validate that opinion. You don’t even bother to check the sourcing or the scientific facts.

I very much do believe that humanity is on the brink of a raised consciousness. As more and more people follow the stream of this new holistic energy, a lot of people are also being left behind and will even fall back into the old traps of rabid xenophobia and narrow-minded nationalism – fed by reptilian-mind toxic emotions such as fear and hate.

The holistic minded person sees diversity as a principle of creation, creativity and constant transition.  Having an open-minded free spirit requires grounding and self-awareness. What is my self-identity?  What is personality, and what is my true higher self?

That is when truth recognizes truth in the meeting of minds.

You will sense instinctively what is true and what is false. You will sense the nuances behind what someone is trying to say and find out a new perspective. In deep listening when soul meets soul there is recognition of the common thread in humanity and creation.

The new and the old energies currently very much manifest themselves in the events of the external world. For those on the path it sometimes needs much steadfastness and courage to remain true to the higher purpose and destiny. It is a time where we need to conserve energy and avoid the web of negative distraction.

An example in point is the heated debate on whether the French national football team is really French because of the many black players in the team. A national football star of Turkish descent in Germany, Mesut Ozil, resigns from the team  amid an emotional discourse on whether he is Turkish or German. So what! Those black players in the French team are both African and French. Mesut Ozil is both Turkish and German. Why force someone who comes from different background to choose just one identity.  And if it comes down to it we are all a mixture of many cultures and influences – what a blessing!

Reino Gevers – Author, Mentor and Consultant 

http://www.reinogevers.com

     

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by | July 13, 2018 · 9:26 am

States of transition

The public discourse in much of social media currently seems to alternate between two extremes with a fall-back to the nationalist hysteria of the 1930s to views expounding a free-for all liberalism. It is typical of a collective consciousness in transition and lacking direction and grounding.

Much of the western world appears to have lost its soul to the hungry ghosts seeking immediate gratification. At the same time we are seeing the outlines of an emerging Renaissance in human consciousness. Every crisis carries within it the seeds of transition and change to a new order.

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A growing number of people are unhappy with the current state of things, and seekers of a new truth transmuting the dogmatism that has been imposed by rigid philosophies and religion during past generations.

Theologian and writer Richard Rohr pointedly describes religion has having brought forth the worst and the best in mankind.  Organised religion has the power of fueling the flames of fanaticism, hate and war or it can open hearts in collective prayer and ritual for the betterment of humankind.

When extreme opposites face each other off, as we are currently seeing along party political lines in the United States, each side becomes blind to the shades of grey and the humanness in the other. We stamp off people along party lines and belief systems preventing a real discourse. In a way it has become “a religious war” between opposites.

In the heated exchange between the opposites the voices of the silent masses go unheard. I do believe that most people are by nature tolerant and can intuitively distinguish between the lie and the truth – a reason  why a growing number of people are refusing to vote and are becoming alienated from organized politics and religion.

Some of the outlines of change can be seen in the fast-growing self-development industry with individual change gradually becoming collective change on a global scale.

In recent years I have met hundreds of people from all walks of life and many different countries on the Camino pilgrimage route in Spain.  About 200,000 people are now walking this ancient medieval pilgrimage route each year. I would describe many of them as spiritual seekers asking the age-old questions: Where do I come from and where am I going?

Reino Gevers – Author, Mentor and Consultant 

http://www.reinogevers.com

    

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by | June 20, 2018 · 10:10 am

On the treshold of a Renaissance

Despite the general despondency over the rise of nationalism, xenophobia and fundamentalism in many countries, we are on the threshold of another Renaissance in raised human consciousness.

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A new chapter in the evolution of mankind is often preceded by an era where the shadow side of humanity comes to the fore. We saw this in the dark ages of religious intolerance and suspension of Greco-Roman classical culture of the Middle Ages prior to the Renaissance of the 14th century.

Evolution happens with pauses and setbacks. It is in the tension and confrontation with the opposite that change occurs – the law of yin and yang. The silver lining we see is that science and technology is giving us many more clues into the functioning of the human mind and why we are who we are.

Currently we see two extremes: A rigid belief system and fundamentalism on the one hand versus a Bohemian, free-for-all nihilism on the other. Without the grounding in a personal philosophy and value system, people easily fall prey to demagogues. In a fast-changing world the instinctive impulse is to protect the world we know with inner and outer walls.

In order to move forward into the era of our new Renaissance there are several challenges:

  • We need a real reconciliation between the races and the sexes.
  • Religious dogmatism and intolerance needs to be transmuted by the spirituality of choice, inner growth and tolerance.
  • A new spirituality comes with the realization of a deep inter-connection with the universe and the world we live in.

How far are we down the road and when will we have our Renaissance? Will we see the change during our lifetime or that of our children?  Such a change cannot be measured in years or decades. It could however, come faster than we realize. On average human knowledge is currently doubling every 13 months and the pace is increasing rapidly.

It is phenomenal when we put it into context. In 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every 100 years. By the end of 1945, the rate was every 25 years.

The digital age is changing our world very fast – technologically, economically and on a mind-thought level – whether we like it or not.

Reino Gevers – Author, Mentor and Consultant 
http://www.reinogevers.space

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by | May 15, 2018 · 11:05 am

Walk your path

I’ve just released the second edition of my book “Walking on Edge: A Pilgrimage to Santiago”  – a novel based on firsthand conversations and insights with many fellow hikers on the Camino. For some people the Camino can be a life-changing experience – for others it is disappointing.

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What Camino you walk depends very much on your expectations and your frame of mind.  After months, sometimes even years, of preparation and planning, and reading some of the many books on the Camino, you are finally on the road.

If you start your walk in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, in southwestern France, in the summer months from June to August you will be disappointed by the masses of people walking the Camino Frances – the most common route.

You will be staying in crowded hostels and sleeping on bunk beds. You might have to stand in a long line for a shower and have to cope with blisters and other aches and pains in your body.  You will be frightened by cyclists coming from behind you at breakneck speed, and sometimes even pushing you off the road.

The first days of walking on the Camino are a real test of mind and body. It is also called the path of crucifixion. A fellow pilgrim once said to me: “Be humble on the path, or the path with humble you.”

On one of my walks I met a very frustrated pilgrim, who had refused advice from fellow walkers, to take it slow during the first days. He was going on and on about his disappointment, criticizing the “boring” landscape of the Camino and lamenting why he had not chosen a holiday on the Canary islands instead.  A lot of people are obviously walking the same route and coming home with very different perceptions and experiences, judging by the comments in many of the social media forums.

My advice is: Don’t be duped by other people’s opinions and what you read. If you liberate your mind from preconceived images and expectations, you will have your very own Camino experience – that can be magical in many ways.

Call it the the Universe, God or just the “magic of the path” has been life-transforming for me and so many people I’ve met on the Camino.  If you walk alone and confront those emotional demons along the way, you will make extraordinary discoveries both within and without. The Camino is certainly not everyone’s cup-of-tea. It can be a hard, uncomfortable, excruciating slog in mud, rain and heat.

At the same time the Camino is exceptionally rewarding on many subtle levels that sometimes only make themselves felt, months after the pilgrimage. The walk is an analogy of life as you deal with the daily ups-and-downs.

Reino Gevers – Mentor and Author – Your Health Matters

 “Walking on Edge – A Pilgrimage to Santiago” available both in Kindle and paperback.

http://www.reinogevers.com

 

 

 

 

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by | February 27, 2018 · 4:18 pm

Our greatest fear

When a close family member dies unexpectedly we are inevitably confronted with our own greatest fear: The fear of death. It is the nature of existence that at some point in our life we will cease to exist in the physical form – something we like to banish from our minds in the daily rat race.

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Those souls that leave before us remind us that life, as we know it, does at some point end.  Most people will quietly fade away at a ripe old age. It is when a younger person is suddenly pulled from life that we become thoughtful – something I have just had to deal with when my younger brother died unexpectedly in his sleep from a heart attack.

When Lady Diana Spencer died in a car accident in Paris in August 1997 it had a global ripple effect. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the London streets mourning her death as if a close family member had died.  Lady Di was a mover and a shaker on many levels.

Being intensely involved in personal health consultancy business, someone recently remarked to me: “What’s the deal? Enjoy life while you can.”

What he really meant: Why go through the “pain” of observing a diet of healthy food and regular exercise  if you are going to die anyway? When your time is up, your time is up.

But that is just the point. We don’t know when our time is up. Living a mindful and healthy life will on average extend your life by at best a few years. But that should not be the primary motive. Who wants to be a centenarian if all your best friends have died?

Research on the blue zones – those places in the world with on average the highest number of centenarians – shows that we are missing the point when we aim for a long life. We should aim instead for a higher quality of life in the here and now that might or might not extend your life.

In the final analysis it is what the great spiritual teachers have been teaching throughout the centuries.

Life is about raising your soul consciousness.

Fear of death is a necessary survival instinct, stemming from the reptilian brain. Transmuting that fear into a raised consciousness of your individual true soul purpose is the real challenge during what is basically a short lifespan.

Reino Gevers – Mentor for Leaders and Achievers – Your Health Matters

Awakening the Fire Within – key principles of health and success. Enrolling now will give you a 25 per cent discount.

 “Walking on Edge – A Pilgrimage to Santiago” available both in Kindle and paperback.

http://www.reinogevers.com

 

 

 

 

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