Bear's Blog

I have written about the importance of grounding your spirituality with a specific practice. Now I would like to address the importance of connecting to a larger body, a community of like-minded people. This can take many forms, from a religious congregation or sangha to a book club or hiking group; any group of people that meets on a regular basis to engage in activity and conversation with spiritual experience as the focus.

It has been well documented that people who are supported socially...

Over the years our School retreats have been held at various sites with medicine wheels - at the Big Horn Wheel, the WD Ranch, and Bear Canyon where Sandee Mills (a graduate) built a spectacular wheel.

At the WD Ranch students Paul and Ellie Hawks built an enormous wheel; it’s a single circle, with a VERY large crystal planted in its center. We would begin with a silent “walk of intention” – like the Buddhist kinhin walking meditation – up the hill, with a few...

More fun than visiting a medicine wheel, is building one! Chris Snell helped me build my first; he built many as large as 40’ wide on his family’s ranch, the Lazy EL in Roscoe, Montana. He has built medicine wheels in many environments, including a city backyard.

The McKay Method® energy healing community has built three wheels over the years on a hill just east of Bozeman, Montana. They are approximately 10’ in diameter, but have a powerful energetic effect on the whole...

Native Americans have created medicine wheels for thousands of years. It’s a structure made of rocks placed in the landscape; it typically has a central stone(s) surrounded by one or more concentric circles, with two or more lines radiating outward from the center point. Most of the few hundred that survive are found in Canada and the U.S. Mountain West. Some scientists and historians believe these forms reflected various celestial alignments (not unlike Stonehenge and other...

What is actually happening when we multitask? It turns out we are rapidly shifting our focus from one thing to another. The downside is that every time we flip the switch, the brain uses more fuel to recalibrate - the same fuel we need for focus and attention.

Our nervous systems are being taxed to the max in this Age of Information. Omnipresent technology encourages multitasking, and our brains have an upper limit on how much is processed at once.

No matter what we are doing, the brain has a...

The Schumann Resonance is the auric field of the planet. The space between the earth’s surface and the ionosphere contains electromagnetic activity in the ELF (extremely low frequency) band. It can vary somewhat between day and night and the seasons, but is usually consistent at 7.83 Hz (the “earth’s heartbeat”.)

Lately, there have been significant irregularities and spikes in the Schumann Resonance, and people are literally buzzing! There are many theories as to why,...

Energy flows - more or less. So does water, and they move in similar ways. In contemplating our current state of affairs lately, I think money does too! When they flow freely, all are realizing their full potential; people are supported, society thrives and the earth is nourished in a reciprocal give and take.

When the flow gets hindered or blocked, problems arise. Systems become depleted when resources are not freely circulating. We can see the effects of this in all those areas.

Without...

It's summertime, and kids are on the loose! Trying to find activities that are fun and interactive is a never-ending challenge. Apart from pure recreation and more “learning opportunities”, you might want to create some more reflective time with them.

As adults, we aspire to model spirituality and psychological health. Morals, compassionate behavior, and religious beliefs can be taught intellectually. But how do you foster a spiritual or energetic experience? 

Anyone who has...

Good advice from the muppets! While each of us is unique, we group ourselves - and others - into general categories. We sort people by race, age, and gender. We are even identified officially according to these parameters.

To be suspicious of the unfamiliar, of anyone who doesn’t look, sound, act, love or live like us is a basic animal instinct. It arises out of fear and judgment. Distinguishing “us” from “them” can be important for physical safety in certain...

We can make a distinction between whether intelligence is carbon-based (organic) or silicon-based (inorganic.) Chat GPT has an IQ of 155; Einstein's IQ was 160. With AI’s ability to increase its intelligence exponentially, we will soon reach the “Singularity” - an event horizon beyond which we know nothing.

1500 noted scientists signed an open letter calling to temporarily shut down the development of AI, so adequate security systems can be created - citing its immediate...

Destroy humanity in 5-10 years? That's a cautionary prediction coming from some AI experts. Robots revolting and taking over has always been a common movie theme - as well as humans destroying the environment (we’re already on our way toward that end.)

AI is exploding onto the scene after percolating in research labs for decades. The ramifications of technology become apparent after the fact, already let loose and wreaking havoc. We’re not good at putting the genie back in the...

One of my favorite sayings for years is “If you’re in a body, you’ve got work to do!” (more on that later.) Lately, the American (originally Protestant) work ethic is being applied to personal development and spiritual growth in an unhelpful way.

Although the traditional definition of work is what we do to make money (for a living?) that sense of obligation and drudgery is creeping into many areas. Child-raising, exercise, diet, and relationships are not immune to the...