ON BECOMING LEFT-HANDED
 

   I've discovered that I'm left-handed. I had done just about everything with my right hand for over fifty years and for all that time I never suspected that I would manifest a physical tendency of the right-brained person. In a world dominated by right-handers, I now eat and deal cards and open doors and turn on lights with my left hand. My right hand remains a bit more dexterous, but even though my left hand is clumsy at some of the finer things, like writing, it can maneuver on the fret board of a guitar in a way that my right hand will never master. I've always suspected that I'm a right-brainer because I have always been one of those "artistic types," but I only finally accepted that I am truly a lefty after I experienced a spiritual awakening.
  I have had to eliminate gluten and stimulants from my diet because of irregular heartbeats and debilitating stomach issues. Because I have severe allergies to eggs, milk and wheat, and I am sensitive to many chemicals, my diet now consists mainly of brown rice, organic chicken, fish, yams, potatoes, peanut butter, and organic vegetables--and I have never felt better in my life.
  Suddenly an aspect of my true nature surfaced, but why did it happen? I attribute my unexpected left-handedness to self-purification. When I was going down the tubes physically, I changed my diet and also went through a process of intense mental purification. In other words, I regularly eliminated negative energies from my heart and mind and body through ritual and meditation. I have discovered that you cannot separate the body from the emotions or from the mind or the spirit. If one aspect is diseased, all aspects are adversely affected to some degree.
  My mother recently confessed that she suspected when I was very young that I was left-handed, and consequently she would always hand objects to my right hand. It was a right-handed world back then (and still is), and she thought it would be easier in the long run for me to fit in if I was right-handed.
  The right brain, seat of creativity and psychic abilities, controls the left side of the body. According to Craig Weiler, "A dominant right brain naturally produces different thought patterns; specifically, those who are possessed of this feature tend towards more holistic, creative thinking than is ordinary. Right brain dominance is a matter of degrees and it follows that those who are outliers in this area will have substantially different modes of thinking than is ordinary. In other words, there are physiological reasons for psychic people to experience strong feelings of being different. (Because this is physically true.)"(1)
  Without knowing it, I have always been a right-brainer in a left-brained world, which explains my "different thought patterns," as well as my rebelliousness and my difficulties accepting the rules and norms of society. It may also explain why I have some of my problems with allergies as well as my ability to heal myself quickly through the power of intention. According to Weiler, "Psychic people are referred to...as anomalously sensitive people (ASP's) because the sensitivities go far beyond psychic ability....As a group, psychic people are more vulnerable to allergies and autoimmune diseases and those who are left handed are more prone to accidents than the general population. However, ASP's also possess the best neurology for self healing and have a better ability to reduce key stressors and their negative effects through intention"(2).
  Unfortunately, this tendency to think and act differently has led to the stigmatization of left-handers. For thousands of years, a superstition has prevailed that the left hand is the hand of the devil. According to anythinglefthanded, the Devil is normally portrayed as being left-handed (3). In the seventeenth century it was believed that the Devil baptized his followers with his left-hand and there are many references in superstitions to the "left-hand side" being associated with evil. It is interesting to note that there is a belief that you can only see ghosts if you look over your left shoulder. Moreover, it was believed that evil spirits lurk over the left shoulder and that you should throw salt over that shoulder to ward them off....In Roman times, salt was a very valuable commodity, giving rise to the word "salary," and was considered a form of money at the time. Spilling salt was considered very bad luck, which could only be avoided in the future by throwing some of the spilled salt over the left shoulder to placate the devil.
  While dealing with celiac disease, I became a walking, talking, left-handed, gluten-free case of cognitive dissonance, morose about the unfairness of it all. I had been conditioned for decades to believe that I'm a right-hander, only to discover that I'm left-handed--and I've also been told to eat foods that are "good for me" for as long as I can remember--only to discover that the American diet has been slowly killing me. Innumerable packages weighing down grocery store shelves contain ingredients that seriously threaten my health and well-being. I have never met a doctor yet who believes that common food items, supposedly good for everyone, can cause serious harm to millions of people like me, which has only caused me to experience greater cognitive dissonance. I began to believe that left-brainers would never understand us right-brainers or even believe that we are telling the truth about our physical problems or our tendency to experience "different" ways of thinking.
  Coincidentally, around the same time that I realized that I was left-handed, I also started to become free of limiting beliefs instilled in me by my parents and society. After my lefty tendencies surfaced and my health dramatically improved at every level, veils dropped from my eyes. After much self-purification, I felt free of left-brained social conditioning. I recognized that I am totally happy being right-brained. I do not need to compete with anyone because as a right-brainer I know that I am essentially a magnificent spiritual being in a physical body, capable of inner harmony, love, and abundance in almost any circumstance. I do not need to live in fear in an interminable and cynical left-brained battle for survival, status, power, domination, and money. Somehow, so far, in all circumstances, I have survived attacks by left-brainers on my right-brained person, whether physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual, and I know that I can stand alone, if necessary, because I am connected to fields upon fields of energy throughout the world and the cosmos. And I am resourceful. I am creative.
  Due to my cognitive dissonance and self-purification, I have not only freed myself from the "mind-forged manacles" of social conditioning--I have realized a few surprising truths. From the beginning, I have conformed many times to please people who have held my fate in their hands. I have conformed, sometimes without realizing it, even though it was against my true nature and against my best interests. I have been conditioned to be a worker bee and a consumer, and I never truly honored my true nature as a creative spiritual being until my spiritual awakening. Other people have tried to make me fear my true nature. I have, now and then, even felt guilty for being myself.
  The left-brainers in charge maintain a fear-based system for their own benefit and do not necessarily tell the truth or act in anyone else's best interest. What if we are so conditioned that we are allowing oligarchs and kleptocrats and plutocrats and autocrats and fascists and political hacks to undermine organized human society and to exhaust the last resources and to poison us out of existence? Will even the most serious crisis be enough to snap us all out of our social conditioning?
  On the brighter side, I also realized that right-brainers and perhaps even some left-brainers can elevate consciousness enough to develop a profound reverence for all of creation. Despite my negative experiences with left-brained people, I do not believe that left-brainers are essentially bad or that people cannot or will not change--because, after all, I was once right-handed too. I have changed in a radical way for the better as I have become a right-brainer--on the emotional, mental, and spiritual levels, which means, I guess, that others can change too, if they have the courage and dedication needed to heal themselves. Right-handers and left-handers can become ambidextrous, which is essentially what I am now (thanks to my mother).
  Even though I am officially now a head-in-the-cloud right-brainer, I am not saying that we should stop maintaining basic rules of conduct. The smooth operation of society requires that people have boundaries and also value truth and justice and morality and harmony and beauty. It might be considered by some to be an unfortunate fact that fear often plays an important role in establishing and maintaining rules for children and the (usually left-brained) adults who have not developed reverence for other people or other life on the planet.
  With this knowledge about right-braininess, I wish to help humanity. Since I believe the artist, to have any relevance, needs to create beauty and establish balance in the world, I have created a new way of thinking that moves beyond social conditioning--what others might consider an ambidextrous, gluten-free spirituality.
  First, we shouldn't have an exclusive religion just for left-brainers. We have all the symbols and archetypes that we need to elevate consciousness; miracles can still manifest in the world. We just need to connect with the subtle archetypal energies that have existed since the beginning of time. The energies of Earth and Heaven connect us to all dimensions of Universal Consciousness.
  A simple process enables right-brainers (and perhaps even some left-brainers) to free themselves from social conditioning and move beyond lack of self-worth and weariness and depression and pain to greater abundance and harmony and love.
  Throughout the centuries, each culture has revealed an awareness of the subtle archetypal energies behind existence, which is reflected in religious symbolism and the diverse pantheons of Gods and Goddesses (no doubt fashioned by right-brainers). Gods and spiritual symbols represent unseen subtle forces that exist both within the cosmos and within the individual: As above, so below.
  Every major religion has presented its own set of symbols representing the subtle archetypal energies. On the surface, those symbols, from one culture to another, might appear wildly different to the left-brainer. However, they are actually similar in many ways because they reflect the basic subtle energies of the individual and the cosmos. All the major religions, however outdated, reveal the archetypal energies and spiritual principles in their own way and emphasize different aspects of their primary symbol system to suit their culture in their particular time and place.
  All the archetypal symbols and Gods throughout the ages fit on the Tree of Life because this glyph represents the basic energies in humanity and the cosmos. And The Universal Tarot dovetails with the modern Tree of Life in every possible way.
  With the Tree of Life as the map, the seeker can simply use a process that involves purification, immersion in nature, contemplation, meditation, and ritual, choosing the symbols and archetypes as tools that lead to exultation and enlightenment. The process does not require a lot of money, only time and dedication.

A Simple Process
 

* Sickness and negativity on all levels interfere with spiritual development. Begin with mental and physical purification. Harmonizing the psyche--besides establishing inner balance--leads to stronger connection with subtle spiritual energies.

* Choose something to contemplate. Become what you are contemplating, whether it's a tree, an animal, an insect, a flower, or another person. Feel the divinity within whatever you are contemplating and within yourself.

* Meditate on the different pantheons of Gods and Goddesses or on archetypal symbols, allowing the mind to follow a symbolic association chain. All Gods are aspects of one God, as revealed within the archetypal dimensions, just as life in the physical world contains many types of energy within fields upon fields of One Energy.

* Perform rituals with a focus on spiritual exultation. Ritual focuses the mind and channels the subtle archetypal energies into the psyche. Remember that the archetypal energies operate within the law of polarity; in other words, they each, except for the highest, contain a balanced and an unbalanced aspect. Strive for the ideal, balanced aspect but understand that missing the mark is common for anyone who sets out on a spiritual path. The emphasis is always on exploration and learning.

* Gods and Archangels and Angels are extremely powerful--much, much more so than human beings. For the purposes of spiritual development, treat a God or Archangel or Angel (always with reverence) as a power that can be activated by you or a group of worshippers through invocation and meditation. Meditate and invoke, in other words, for the purposes of understanding spiritual principle and for developing your own inner power through the influx of the subtle archetypal energy into your psyche. Avoid insisting that there is only one savior or only one specific pantheon of Gods to worship and invoke. Each person has the inner freedom to make their own choices, so honor the choices of others.

* Let the mind drop into the void during meditation. This is one way to purify the mind. Sometimes if you have purified your mind enough, the higher self will speak to you through symbols or voices that reveal spiritual principle--and sometimes even predict the future.

* "Follow your bliss" to improve and elevate the mind. No one can force moments of exultation or inspiration, but you have to find the time to allow them to happen--because those moments are extremely important for achieving a permanent expansion of consciousness.

* Immerse yourself within nature to experience the divine energies of the Earth. Open your heart and mind to the miracle of a plant or an insect or an animal or a creek or another person--in order to experience the "marriage of heaven and earth."

   And if you're a right-hander, try to use your left hand more often.

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​1) https://www.google.com/search?q=craig+weiler+on+left+handedness&sca_esv=aed0d697877661b8&sxsrf=AE3TifMzmElNNabetxVwnWBxPtmw_YmfmQ%3A1755622290884&source=hp&ei=kqukaIeVNM2wur8P8ZnE6Q4&iflsig=AOw8s4IAAAAAaKS5ooEYQV6k1riNXgH8tZbd2KDVlSmQ&oq=craig+weiler+on+left+han&gs_lp=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&sclient=gws-wiz

​(Actual article no longer available.)

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2) ibid.

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3) (Article no longer available.)

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All poems, stories, essays, illustrations, and music Copyright © 2024 by Jim Robbins.

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